Department of Basic Education prepares for 2024 matric exams

All systems are in place for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations for the Class of 2024, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said.

The department briefed the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education last week on a preliminary report regarding the state of readiness for this year’s Grade 12 final examinations.

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, Deputy Minister Dr Reginah Mhaule and Director-General Mathanzima Mweli led the departmental delegation to Parliament.

The examinations are set to run from Monday October 21 to Wednesday November 27, and marking will commence immediately thereafter.

“There are 55 053 markers appointed, who will be stationed at 188 marking centres. The results will be released to candidates on January 16, 2025.

The minister will announce the results on January 15, 2025,” said Ms Gwarube.

“The DBE has done a lot of work to prepare both the candidates and the system for this year’s examination. This is a pivotal moment for the learners, who are in their last weeks in the basic education system.”

In terms of system readiness, the Chief Director for National Assessment and Public Examinations, Dr Rufus Poliah, reported that there were 732 448 full-time candidates enrolled for NSC examinations this year, which is 8 400 more than in 2023.

“KwaZulu-Natal has the largest Grade 12 population with 172 213 candidates, while Gauteng contributes the second largest number with 136 620. Eastern Cape has 103 975 and Limpopo has 94 236. Mpumalanga has 68 455 and the Western Cape has registered 64 552 candidates. The North West has 41 480, while the Free State has 37 737 and the Northern Cape has 13 180 registered candidates this year,” Dr Poliah said. “There are 136 195 part-time candidates registered to sit for various subjects this year. The examinations will take place in 6 909 centres across the nine provinces.”

Dr Poliah said a total of 162 question papers for the 2024 October/November examinations have been approved by Umalusi and are ready for handover to provinces for printing.

The Class of 2024 is the seventh cohort that will sit for South African Sign Language (SASL) Home Language (HL) examinations in November 2024. Twenty- three schools in nine provinces have 210 candidates registered for SASL HL, compared to 134 candidates in 2023. In terms of pupil readiness, the Deputy Director-General for Curriculum, Dr Barney Mthembu, highlighted several factors that need to be taken into account regarding the current cohort of Grade 12 pupils.

“Firstly, the Class of 2024 was in Grade R in 2012, the year of implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in foundation phase. Secondly, they entered Grade 8 in 2020 at the height of Covid-19, which means their transition from primary to secondary school was seriously disrupted,” Dr Mthembu said. “Thirdly, their Grade 9 year (2021), which is crucial for subject selection in Grade 10, was also disrupted due to Covid-19.”

He said pupils experienced social distancing, which limited group work between teachers and group assessment activities. Rotational attendance affected coverage of the curriculum and created content gaps. At the height of Covid-19, teacher absenteeism affected teacher curriculum coverage negatively for this cohort. In spite of these disruptions, the department said this cohort started to benefit from the Learning Recovery Programme at primary school.

Strategies and interventions aimed at addressing the academic setbacks of Covid-19 were introduced. In Grade 10 (2022), the system was beginning to recover from the Covid-19 restrictions, which led to a return of the majority of pupils to school.

“This saved this cohort from rotational attendance and loss of teaching and learning time. It also helped them to complete the Grade 10 Annual Teaching Plans (ATPs). In Grade 11 (2023) this cohort had an advantage of the removal of social distancing and other related restrictions. This helped it to cover the Grade 11 Annual Teaching Plans,” the department said.

This year, in Grade 12, they are benefiting from a wealth of resources that were developed to assist the classes of 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 with learning and studying. These include previous diagnostic reports, question papers and study material. Mr Mweli said he has visited 162 study camps in different parts of the country throughout the year to support the Grade 12 pupils.

The department further highlighted that the Class of 2024 has also benefited from being taught by teachers who have improved subject results in 2022 and 2023, making them motivated to improve performance in 2024.