This, as the province expects over 11 500 full-time candidates and 2 024 part-time candidates to sit for the 2019 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Examination as of October 16. Briefing the media on the department’s state of readiness in Kimberley earlier today, Jack said it is all systems go and that the department will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that examination irregularities are prevented. He confirmed that a total of 150 chief invigilators have been appointed to strengthen efforts to eradicate any examination irregularities.

“Last year, the Northern Cape achieved a pass rate of 73,3%, a decline of 2,3% from 75,6 % in 2017. The Class of 2019 has a mammoth task ahead to ensure that they further improve on last year’s 73,3% pass percentage,” said Jack.

Jack said the department has, during the course of the year, put in place various measures to ensure that schools are afforded the necessary support. These included teacher training and development, extra-classes for progressed learners and underperforming schools, school holiday studying camps, as well as intense revisions.

He added that “all exam centres have been audited by provincial and district officials, based on a national instrument and that the province has registered 150 NSC examination centres including eight independent centres and one correctional services centre”.

The confirmation by Jack comes just days after the North West and the Free State province announced their state of readiness and held matric pledge signing ceremonies. The sign pledging ceremony in the Free State saw about 30 000 full-time Grade 12 examination candidates confirm their commitment to uphold the principle of honesty and integrity during the examinations.

Leading the ceremonies held in Bloemfontein and Welkom, Premier Sisi Ntombela and Education MEC Tate Makgoe appealed to learners to study hard and avoid being involved in any irregularities.

Makgoe further announced the department’s intention to reclaim its number one top matric position when results are released next year on January 7.

The province held the number one spot in the country for two consecutive years, although it slipped down to position two in 2018, achieving 87.5%, while Gauteng obtained the highest pass rate at 87.9%.

Overall, it was Gauteng that came out as top performer in 2018, followed by the Free State, then the Western Cape at 81.5% and North West at 81.1%. These were the only four provinces to get above 80%.

The Department of Basic Education has meanwhile confirmed that a total of 790 405 candidates will sit for this year’s exams across 7 416 examination centres nationwide.

OFM News