Staff Reporter
Free State Education MEC Tate Makgoe has witnessed the start of this year’s National Senior Certificate (NSC) Examinations at Kagisho Comprehensive School in Bloemfontein and wished all learners well.
“This morning I visited Grade 12 learners at Kagisho Comprehensive School and spoke to them a few minutes before they started writing,” said Makgoe in a Twitter post.
The candidates were sitting for the English First Additional Language Paper.
“Good luck to all our learners. I know they are ready . . . make the Free State proud!”
More than 49 000 candidates will write the 2020 matric examinations following the national lockdown and COVID 19 pandemic which halted schooling and adversely affected the 2020 academic programme.
Out of the 49 000, more than 29 000 are full-time NSC candidates.
The Free State results will be released by Makgoe on February 23, 2021.
The provincial education department says its target for the matric results remains a 90 percent pass rate of which 40 percent of that should be bachelor passes.
Meanwhile, the national Department of Education has announced that learners who test positive for COVID-19 will now be allowed to write their matric exams.
The move is a departure from the initial decision that exam candidates with the disease will not be allowed to write due to fears they could spread the disease to other learners.
In a statement, the national department said it had reached an agreement on practical health protocols with the health department to accommodate learners who test positive for COVID-19 during the exam period.
“Learners who have tested positive for COVID-19 will be allowed to write their matric exams in isolation under strict health protocols . . .” read part of the statement.