Pretoria - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says she is confident that all the work put into preparing this year's matrics for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) will put the learners in good stead for the all-important examinations.
"We've [done] all we could to support our learners in different ways," said Motshekga on Thursday during a briefing ahead of the exams, which kick off on 22 October.
She cited the example of the Northern Cape, where the provincial education authorities took pro-active steps to give their learners dedicated support so they could be up-to-date with the curriculum.
With regard to Limpopo, Motshekga reiterated that Grade 12 learners in the province were not affected by the delay in the delivery of textbooks, as the situation only affected those in Grades 1, 2, 3 and 10.
"The delay in textbooks did not apply to them... Even so, the province has put measures in place in terms of giving extra support to schools by producing additional learner support materials... Most provinces would have run extra classes and most schools would have supported kids throughout the Easter period.
"... I'm very confident the schools and provinces did all they could to [prepare] the children and make sure that ... they get through the exams ..." said Motshekga.
A total of 527 335 full time learners and 120 352 part time candidates will sit for the matric exams, which end on 28 November.
Motshekga also announced that the department had requested curriculum experts to hold a maths and science summit to understand what more should be done to encourage learners to take up these subjects, as well as strengthening support for learners.
The department said it was concerned about the number of learners taking maths literacy (55% of learners) instead of mathematics (45%). - SAnews.gov.za
