Johannesburg - After a tough year of school disruption because of Covid-19, matric candidates have just two days left before they sit for their final exams.
More than a million candidates will sit for the combined Senior Certificate and the National Senior Certificate exams from Thursday. The exams end on December 15.
Basic Education Department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said despite school attendance having had to be paused for a few months because of Covid-19, the final exams would be on par with previous years’ exams.
Mhlanga said after consultation with experts from the Health Department, they have revised the stance on not allowing candidates with a high temperature reading to write their exams.
“The department, after seeking the expert advice from the Health Department, has amended its writing protocol to allow learners that present a temperature of above 38°C during the screening process to write the examination in isolation and such learners will not be allowed to associate with other learners after the examination and will be referred to for medical attention. The condition of such learners will be closely monitored in subsequent examinations,” Mhlanga said.
At the exam centres, social distancing has also been reduced to one metre and centres have been categorised according to risk profile.
Mhlanga said: “It should be noted that despite the abnormal context, the Class of 2020 will be subjected to the same high quality of examination that previous cohorts were subjected to, as the department has not made any changes to the exam papers, which were already set in 2019.”
The Star