Pretoria - The first day of the 2012 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams got off to a good start without incidents or irregularities, says Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.
Monday marked the first day of the final matric exams, where 527 266 full time and 32 789 part time candidates sat for English Home Language, First Additional Language and Second Additional Language Paper 1.
Motshekga, who was concerned about the recent heavy rains in the Eastern Cape and thought that they could negatively affect the transportation of school children, was relieved when receiving a report that there were only minor challenges experienced.
"I'm happy to announce that reports coming in from the Eastern Cape indicate that we only experienced challenges in the Ngqamakhwe area in Butterworth, wherein the start of the exams in certain schools was delayed by 20 minutes. Candidates were, however, provided with the allocated time," Motshekga said.
No incidents were reported in the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West.
In Western Cape, two schools in the Overberg area were affected by the weather and five candidates from Swartberg Secondary started the examination at 9:20am because the school bus they were travelling in got stuck in mud due to floods.
"One candidate at Kairos Secondary School had to be fetched from home using a 4x4 vehicle, also as a result of floods in the area. All candidates managed to write the examination and were compensated for the 20 minutes," said Motshekga.
She commended the determination displayed by learners across the country to do well in the exams.
On Monday morning, Motshekga was at the Pretoria East Hospital to hand over papers to a learner from Limpopo, who wrote to the department requesting permission to sit for the NSC examinations in hospital, where he is receiving specialized treatment.
Another candidate from the Northern Cape gave birth around 5am in morning and opted to write the examination in hospital, where an invigilator was dispatched. The candidate started writing at 10am and was compensated for the lost time. - SAnews.gov.za
