The practical exams for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams for 2021 start today – 10 058 learners will complete their Computer Applications Technology (CAT) practical exam on Tuesday, while 875 learners have their Information Technology practical exam on Wednesday.
The Western Cape Minister of Education, Debbie Schäfer, has made a special appeal to Eskom, taxi organisations, political leaders, community groups and commercial key players to do everything in their power to prevent disruptions that might upset the flow of the final examinations.
“Unfortunately, we face the looming threat of load-shedding, which was implemented for a large part of last week. It is extremely disappointing that this has again reared its head just as the NSC practical tasks are set to begin,” she said.
The Department of Basic Education engaged with Eskom in the hope of preventing power supply disruption this year and has taken the precautionary step of scheduling a re-write of these practical exams into the matric exam calendar (7 December).
Standard procedures
The WCED is also prepared with standard procedures to follow in the event of a power supply disruption (whether scheduled or not).
“I appeal to Eskom to do everything it can to prevent disruption to power not only during these practical exams, but also during the exam sittings from 27 October onwards. Back-up procedures are all very well, but they are disruptive to learners, so we would rather avoid having to use them,” said Schäfer.
Another concern is protests and strikes which become more frequent during this time of the year. Earlier this year the taxi protests had a devastating effect on school attendance.
“Any action that prevents learners from getting to their exams – and writing them in peace – is unacceptable and adds extra unnecessary stress to what is already a very stressful time.
“So please, politicians, community groups, and commercial organisations, I appeal to you to put the interests of our children first over the next two months. This is the first matric class to have spent their entire Grade 12 year in pandemic conditions. They have been through enough. We owe it to them to make sure that they have the best possible chance of succeeding in these exams and completing their school career,” she said.
Good luck to all the matriculants who have had to work against a tide of disruptions to get to this point in their schooling career – especially the road blocks caused by the global pandemics.
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