Ready, set, go — SA declared ready for the Class of 2024 matric exams

Just hours to go before matric final exams get under way for more than 800,000 candidates

Exam papers have been through quality assurance and printed, security is in place and exam centres are ready for the matric Class of 2024 to start writing their final exams on Monday. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I declare the country ready for the 2024 matric examinations,” declared basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube at a media briefing on readiness to administer the 2024 National Senior Certificate examinations on Sunday. 

Gwarube described this year’s final exams as representing “the cumulative efforts of our education system, our schools, communities” and her department. 

“With just hours to go before the first paper is written, I proudly announce that we are ready to administer the 2024 NSC exams — holding ourselves to best-in-class integrity, security and efficiency standards,” she said. 

This year 727,121 full-time and 155,215 part-time candidates will sit their matric exams — totalling 882,336 candidates across South Africa. A further 16,400 students from private schools and institutions will take the Independent Examination Board exams. 

Gwarube said this year’s crop of matriculants began high school at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with that disruption having had a lasting impact on their learning. This, she said, had been addressed through several interventions such as the Learning Recovery Programme, personalised learning interventions, additional teaching support and socio-emotional care.

Other preparation initiatives rolled out in provinces across the country included face-to-face extra tuition sessions, Saturday catch-up programmes and extended school hours in key subjects such as mathematics, life sciences and business studies. 

There was also additional support in the form of revision materials, past question papers and online resources made available through public-private partnerships with stakeholders like Vodacom, MTN, the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) and other corporate partners.

Gwarube added that the “Last Push” programme had been used to consolidate learning in the final days before the exams begin on Monday. This had included taking matriculants away from disruptions at home and social ills that could potentially distract them from their exam preparations.

The department had also undertaken to ensure that all pupils with disabilities are adequately catered for, with special accommodations including Braille papers, large print exams and South African Sign Language adaptations.

She said 162 quality-assured papers had been approved by Umalusi and extensive precautions to safeguard the integrity of the examination process were in place.

Distribution trucks had been equipped with tracking systems to monitor their movements and ensure that question papers reach exam centres on time and without compromise. 

“As a department, we will monitor some 6,334 state schools and 575 independent centres where examinations will be conducted,” she said, adding that an extra 70 part-time monitors had been appointed to oversee high-risk centres.

Additionally, more than 55 000 qualified markers had been appointed across 188 marking centres nationwide. External moderators from Umalusi would monitor the process to ensure there was no variation in the quality and accuracy of the marking across different provinces. 

Another new feature of this year’s final exams was the introduction of “exam pledges” that were signed by all matric pupils, requiring them to uphold the principles of honesty and integrity throughout the exam period.

“Despite the challenges faced by the Class of 2024, we are confident that our collective efforts have prepared them well for the upcoming examinations. Their journey has been one of resilience and determination and we believe that they will rise to the occasion,” Gwarube said. 

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