It’s a go for the Class of 2020 who begin their final exams on Thursday. Premier Zamani Saul said that the learners have the task of ensuring that they surpass the pass rate record set by last year’s matric class.
THE NORTHERN Cape Department of Education is aiming for a pass rate of more than 80% in the 2020 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.
MEC for Education Zolile Monakali and Premier Zamani Saul, during a press conference on Wednesday, relayed the Province’s readiness for the upcoming final matric examinations which will commence on Thursday, November 5.
Saul said that the Class of 2020 has the task of ensuring that they surpass the pass rate record set by last year’s matric class.
“Last year, the Northern Cape achieved a pass rate of 76.5%, an increase of 3.2% from 73.3 % in 2019. The Class of 2020 has an enormous task ahead of them,to ensure that they further improve on last year’s pass percentage and surpass the national average of 81%,” said Saul.
He said that there were more than 12,000 registered full-time candidates in the Northern Cape.
“We have registered a total of 23,928 candidates, of which 12,049 are 2020 NSC full-time candidates, while 4,528 candidates include the 2019 NSC Multiple Examination Opportunity candidates completing their matric, candidates who could not sit for the 2019 NSC due to valid reasons such as ill health and those who are improving subjects. The total number of part-time and Senior Certificate (SC) candidates is 7,351,” said Saul.
“It should be noted that for this exam no candidate will have the option to make use of the Multiple Examination Opportunity. This simply means that all candidates will sit for all their subjects during the 2020 National Senior Certificate examinations.”
The premier added that about 4% of matric pupils were, however, deregistered by their parents or guardians.
“There are 580 learners from across the Province who have not registered for the examinations. The department has contacted the parents and guardians of those learners and they have indicated that they opted to homeschool their children. Homeschooling, however, is not an automatic process. The parents who opted to homeschool their children had to register with the department and also had to ensure that their children cover the work set out in the curriculum. Other parents have chosen that their children should repeat the year. That has resulted in a decline of registered full-time learners,” said Saul.
Saul admitted that 2020 has been a challenging year for learners, teachers and parents.
He said that the department has over the past months put measures in place to assist matric pupils to prepare for the examinations.
“The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have disrupted the lives of learners in different ways, not only on a personal level but also the extent to which they have completed the curriculum. Also, due to the pandemic the June mid-year examination could not sit. As a result, all candidates will be accommodated in the final year-end 2020 NSC examination.
“The department has had various interventions with the sole aim of ensuring that our schools and learners get the maximum support, with a strong emphasis on progressed and borderline learners. Those interventions included curriculum roadshows and subject clinics, radio broadcasts of lessons, WhatsApp groups, online and offline content applications and Woza TV broadcasts. Schools in the Province also had Saturday classes, weekend lock-in sessions and psychosocial support as well as the provision of additional learning support material.”
Saul indicated that arrangements have been put in place should any unforeseen circumstances befall the registered candidates.
“If a candidate is unable to write all their subjects due to illness, Covid-19 infection or any other reason, they will be able to write those subject/s during next year’s May or June mid-year examinations. It also means that their results will not form part of the final 2020 NSC examination results. The same applies to the results of part-time and Senior Certificate candidates, which will not form part of the overall NSC results of 2020,” he said.
Matric pupils across the country will know their fate by February 22, 2021 when the Minister of Education, Angie Motshekga, releases the national results.
The Northern Cape will release the provincial results on February 23.
