The Department of Basic Education has decided to cancel the May/June Matric examinations. Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, announced this during a Portfolio Committee meeting and gave insight into why this move is being made.
Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, has announced that the mid-year Matric exams are being cancelled. This is being done to give Matriculants more time to finish the curriculum.
According to BusinessTech, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said:
The normal assessments which they do during the middle of the year, normally referred to as June exams, will not take place instead the time will be used for teaching and learning.
This is being done so that Matriculants can have more class time, which Motshekga believes to be important and that this will help them be ready for when they have to actually write exams.
The Minister continued to say that the Class of 2024 would have only gone back to school in July 2024 due to the Coivd-19 pandemic which meant that around 60% of teaching time lost.
This group has never written Matric before so this is part of their final year exams preparation.
This year’s Matrics had their curriculum of 2024 cut short and had a late start to the school year, which could all negatively impact them.
Last year, these learners also had no holiday period and were given extra classes so that they can catch up. The Minister therefore said education authorities will try to keep the learners in school for as long as possible, in order to try to cover the gaps.
“We also have a team monitoring Covid-19 infections on a daily basis,” Motshekga said.
Matriculants in special schools across the country will see a full-time return to school with full capacity of 26 July, which marks the beginning of the third term.
