NATIONAL NEWS - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education is aiming for a pass rate of more 80% in the 2022 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Examinations, regardless of the numerous challenges.
The department held a media briefing about the state of readiness for the 2022 exams on Tuesday.
There have been concerns raised after the Basic Education Department said Eskom had indicated that it would be impossible to exempt examination centres from rolling blackouts because they are not situated in one central place. This comes after teacher unions expressed their concern that rolling blackouts hinder pupils’ ability to prepare adequately for the exams.
According to the provincial department, the national chief director of examinations and assessment had a meeting with Eskom on Tuesday morning where they appealed to Eskom to exempt schools from a blackout for two days (Tuesday and Wednesday).
The final exams are expected to start on Monday.
KZN department’s examinations and assessment chief director, Dr. Raymond Penniston, said this was important because the Computer Applications Technology (CAT) exams were written on Tuesday, and the Information Technology exams will be written on Wednesday.
Penniston said the power utility could not suspend load shedding for two days, saying if it did that the country would have a big problem.
Load shedding is beyond our control as a department, but we do have schools that have generators ready so that the pupils can study.
The KZN MEC for Education, Mbali Frazer, said the Basic Education Minister Angelina Motshekga had been engaging with Eskom to address the issues around load shedding. Over 920 000 candidates are enrolled for the exams this year, with 198 866 full and part-time candidates from KZN.
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) in KZN has continued to raise concerns about load shedding and said the power outages will have a major impact on the preparation process by the pupils.
Sadtu provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza said Eskom and the government have failed to come to the rescue of pupils, especially because the matriculants had been affected by unforeseen issues since Grade 10 such as the pandemic, the looting, and the floods.
We have made suggestions but they are not willing to come to the party. The issue of generators is not an answer because what about rural areas’ schools? Some revision must be done at home, and studying using a candle is very dangerous. If learners fall asleep, that might cause a fire and put their lives in danger.
Caluza said when the weather is cloudy, pupils will be seriously affected during exams.
State of readiness
There will be 6 022 invigilators managing the writing of the examination in 1 780 centres.The distribution of examination material will be done through 13 nodal points and 103 distribution and collection centres.
The province will print 120 question papers, which will total 34 million pages. There will be 28 morning and 27 afternoon sessions in the exams. The department also plans on increasing the number of schools that obtain a 100% pass rate, improving Bachelor passes by five percent, to improve passes in mathematics, sciences, and other technical subjects.
Frazer said 5 564 pupils attended winter camps. She said the department also held spring boot camps where pupils were given extra tuition.
Given all that has been done throughout the year, the Department of Education in KZN is confident that the Class of 2022 is ready for the National Senior Certificate exams.
Frazer appealed to the public, especially parents to support the Class of 2020. She also urged communities to protect schools in their neighbourhoods from those who want to turn them into playgrounds for criminal activities.
We are also once again appealing to communities to desist from disrupting schools or blocking our learners and educators on their way to school during protests. Our children must not be denied their right to education because of conflicts that have nothing to do with them such as service delivery issues and faction fights.
National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) in KZN said they are confident that the NSC system is all fired up and ready to go.
Naptosa KZN CEO Thirona Moodley said the teachers are confident that they have done their best and the pupils are ready to write one of the most important exams they will write. She said a pass rate of 80% is possible and pupils and parents must now take the baton from the teachers and sprint to the finish.
