Calls have been made for the provincial education department, communities, law enforcement authorities and Eskom to join forces to ensure that every matric learner has the best opportunity to succeed.
A total of 921 000 candidates are expected to sit for their 2023 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams across the country.
More than 76 900 are from the Western Cape, this includes 64 105 full-time candidates and 12 798 are part-time.
Pupils will sit for their practical exams Computer Applications Technology, on Tuesday and Information Technology, on Wednesday.
Education MEC David Maynier said the written exams begin on Monday, and a total of 123 exam papers will be written during this period which ends on December 5 with Agricultural Technology.
“The exams will be written at 469 exam centres, overseen by 1 878 invigilators who will keep a close eye on proceedings and any potential irregularities. Marking will get under way after the final written exam, and 928 000 exam scripts will be marked by 4 158 markers and checked by 1 046 mark-checkers,” he said.
The exams commence as some communities in the province have been caught between running gang battles in the past weeks, and also amid load shedding concerns.
National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) provincial spokesperson David Millar said the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), communities, law authorities and Eskom need to join forces to ensure that every matric learner has the very best opportunity to succeed.
“It is always a concern to Naptosa at this time of year that our children are held hostage to factors beyond their control with issues including protest action, taxi strikes, climate anomalies, load shedding and gang violence.
“All role players must work hard to ensure that our matrics are supported to get to their examination centres on time and to complete every exam sitting for which they were registered.
SAPS and the Department of Community Safety must also have a strong presence and to show a unity of action to prevent any activity from impacting negatively on our matrics,” said Millar.
ANC Education MPL Khalid Sayed also called on police and the provincial government to implement necessary security measures to safeguard against any disruptions caused by the ongoing spate of violent crimes.
“It's imperative that our students can prepare and write their exams without fear or concern,” he said.
“We are pleased to acknowledge the significant increase in the number of candidates who will be taking their final exams this year.
“We’ve observed a troubling trend in previous years where a substantial number of learners were unable to sit for their exams.
“We urge the WCED to ensure that every candidate is present and able to complete their exams,” he said.
Maynier said they understand that crime in communities can have a negative effect on a candidate’s mental health as such district support teams were available to support learners, and appealed they reach out to their school or the department if they are struggling to cope.
“Matric is a stressful enough time without our learners having to worry about getting to their exams safely. We appeal to everyone in the Western Cape to treat our matrics as the VIPs of our province for the next few weeks. We do not want to see their futures compromised.
“We are also mindful of the impact of the ongoing load shedding, and assure our matrics that we have the necessary protocols in place for exams to continue in the case of both scheduled and unscheduled power outages,” he said.
Cape Times