Matrics to know their fate soon

2007-12-27 16:21

Cape Town - The nail-biting wait for hundreds of thousands of matric candidates comes to an end on Friday, when results are released nationally.

The results would be published in newspapers on sale from 06:00, national education department spokesperson Lunga Ngqengele said on Thursday.

He said provincial education MECs would hold media briefings from 09:00, followed by an overview from national director general Duncan Hindle at a press conference in Pretoria at 11:00.

That would also be attended by national Education Minister Naledi Pandor.

Ngqengele said a total of 599 048 full time candidates wrote the exam this year, more than 65 000 up on last year.

Another 200 000 wrote as part-time candidates.

"We are quite happy with the number, because it shows a huge number of young people are getting the chance to write their matrics," he said.

Last year the pass rate was 66%, but educationists believe that given the drawn-out teachers' strike and the shortage of teachers at a number of schools, this year's matrics are unlikely to match it.

Limpopo recorded the highest number of failures in 2006 - 46 721 -followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

In the Western Cape, which recorded the least failures last year - only 6 508 - and an 83.7% pass rate, the province's top 20 matrics will be feted at a function at the premier's residence Leeuwenhof at 9:30 on Friday.

Last of old curriculum

Gert Witbooi, spokesperson for education MEC Cameron Dugmore, said the department would be looking carefully at the quality of the passes in the province, including how many maths and science candidates had made the grade, and whether individual schools had met targets they set themselves.

Ngqengele said matrics who wanted supplementary exams, together with those who planned to redo their year, would write their exams together in late May and early June.

This unusual arrangement was because the 2007 matrics were the last full-time students on the old curriculum, and would be unfamiliar with the outcomes-based curriculum the 2008 Grade 12s will be working on.

It was reported earlier that some provinces were considering additional tuition for these students after school hours and during holidays.

Umalusi, the Council for Quality Assessment in General and Further Education and Training, said earlier this month, when it approved the matric results, that maths and maths literacy were still a problem.

It said there had been no major irregularities, and that mark adjustments had been made in several subjects, but nowhere by more than 10%.

The results are scheduled to be posted on the national department's website, www.education.gov.za, on Friday.

- SAPA