The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga has wished all grade 12 pupils the best of luck as they start writing their final examinations on Monday, 27 October.

According to a statement released today marks the official commencement of the 2014 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination and the Department of Basic Education has finalised all preparations in all nine provinces.

A total of 688 660 candidates are registered to write the examination this year, of which 550 127 are Full Time candidates and 138 533 are Part Time candidates.

These candidates will write their examination across 6 735 examination centres where invigilation will be conducted by an estimated 65 000 invigilators who will be responsible for ensuring that the examination is written under conditions that are free of any malpractice.

The DBE together with the provinces will strengthen its monitoring of the 2014 NSC examination processes so as to ensure that the integrity and credibility of this exit examination is upheld at every examination centre.

The Minister will officially announce the outcome of the 2014 NSC examinations on 5 January 2015 and the results will be released to candidates on 6 January 2015.