Johannesburg - With seven days before the start of the matric examinations, the Gauteng Department of Education has promised to conduct credible and fair exams.
Announcing the department's state of readiness on Monday, provincial MEC for Education Barbara Creecy reiterated that the province is ready, with about 1.3 million question papers needed to be printed and distributed to 793 examination centres.
A total of 117 0797 learners in Gauteng will sit for this year's national exams to start on 25 October until 03 December.
"We have a total of 94 601 full time candidates and 22 496 part time candidates. The higher number of part time candidates is due to in part to in-migration to the province," said Creecy.
Creecy also urged learners to conduct themselves with honesty, warning that security measures were in place to ensure the integrity of the exams is not compromised.
"Cheating and other exam irregularities may results in a criminal record. If you get caught cheating, it has serious consequence, you can be disqualified from writing exams for a number of years.
"[Put] the remaining time to good use. If you fail, you can do supplementary exams next year," Creecy advised learners.
She said that the province will keep the study camps running during the exams and over weekends in some areas, in case learners have last minute questions that tutors can assist with.
Despite the difficult circumstances in September, an optimistic Creecy said the preliminary exams in the province were a success and the department was confident that the exams will also proceed smoothly.
Wishing the class of 2010 good luck, Creecy encouraged learners to continue with their revision with the same focus and dedication over the next week.
"So far, you've been very inspiring to all of us ... maintain the level of focus and don't panic, keep calm and read the exam question carefully, Good luck!" said Creecy.
