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- Quality assurance body Umalusi is ready for the 2023 matric exams.
- Measures have been put in place to prevent errors in question papers.
- Arrangements have also been made to mitigate the impact of load shedding.
It's all systems go for the more than 920 000 candidates who are scheduled to write their matric exams this year, according to quality assurance body Umalusi.
The matric class of 2023 will begin writing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams on Monday, 30 October.
In a briefing on Friday, Umalusi said the 921 000 candidates would write at more almost 6 340 public schools and more than 550 private centres.
Umalusi CEO Dr MS Rakometsi said that "by and large", the education system was "ready to administer the 2023 national examinations".
He added that measures have been put in place to mitigate the impact of load shedding during the exams and said Umalusi was satisfied with arrangements the Department of Basic Education had made to procure generators and engage with Eskom.
Rakometsi added that measures have also been put in place to prevent errors in question papers, like the "impossible" question in the Maths Paper 2 of last year.
Papers have to be double-checked and signed off by an external moderator.
"We have learnt our lesson that there should be double measures taken to ensure errors don't happen," he said.
Rakometsi pointed out, however, that human error can still result in mistakes in papers.
He added that a protocol has been developed to deal with any incidents in which an error is found in a question paper.
According to Umalusi, the printing and distribution process has been audited, and the quality assurance body is satisfied that a "high level of security" is in place to prevent the leaking of exam papers.
