Johannesburg - With less than a week to go for the 2022 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Exams across the country, the Gauteng MEC for Education Matome Chiloane is confident that the province will overtake their competitors Free State to the number one spot.
Gauteng has been beaten by the Free State for three years in a row, which resulted in it being in the second position.
MEC Chiloane signed a pledge for the matric pupils ahead of the coming exams today at BB Myataza Secondary High in Etwatwa, Benoni.
He delivered a state of readiness for the exams and also gave an update on the Grades 1 and 8 learner placements in a media briefing that was held at the school.
Addressing the briefing on the state of readiness, he said learners in the province were ready to rock and roll with the exams. "This morning, we had a meeting with all the districts and the officials that are responsible with regard to the NSC processes. All the reports demonstrated that we are sitting at a hundred percent," he said.
He said there would be a hundred percent coverage of all exam centres during the exams period. He said they have trained all the responsible parties that would assist them to execute the period.
"Our invigilators and chief invigilators have been properly trained, and also we did a training focusing on venue management, invigilation, question paper Management, script Management, candidate management and security," he said.
He mentioned that the security measures will not be compromised in terms of question paper leakage and other forms of cheating. "We can confidently say, this year there, will not be leakage. I can assure you on that part," he maintained.
He indicated that the security personnel had been dispatched and also said they appointed the service providers to increase security (armed escorts, response units, CCTV cameras) in districts to ensure that everything is tight.
On the issue of load shedding, Chiloane said the GDE has already engaged with Eskom and City Power to suspend power cuts during exams, especially when subjects like Computer Applications Technology (CAT) and Information Technology (IT) would be written because they are computer-based subjects.
He said they had gone an extra mile for schools that had computer-based subjects to ensure that their centres have generators to back them up.
Meanwhile, giving feedback on Grades 1 and 8 learner placements, he said the GDE received 332 557 applications, of which 159 070 were applicants who had been placed and 173 487 unique applicants who had not been placed.
Out of the placed applicants, 87 608 were Grade 1s, and 71 462 were Grade 8s. Of unplaced applicants, 70 089 were Grade 1s, and 103 318 were Grade 8s.
The MEC said parents who did not receive the placement SMSes should not panic because the period of SMSes will end on November 30, and every child will be accommodated.
Furthermore, Chiloane said objections and appeals would not be accepted when placement is offered at one of the schools to which the parents have applied.
He urged them to refrain from those acts because it would cause confusion to the system. "Parents/guardians who are offered a placement at schools that they have not applied to have the option to accept or decline the placement offer," he said.
He wished the class of 2022 the best of luck in the upcoming exams.
kamogelo.moichela@inl.co.za
Education