The Department of Education confirmed that the writing of this year’s National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations have come to an end and that they are in the process of marking.

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga praised all those involved in the delivery of a successful 2014 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations. She has thanked teachers, officials and candidates for a smooth matric exam around the country which commended on 27 October and ended Friday, 28 November.

Motshekga says she is satisfied that the examinations have been conducted with integrity and without serious problems despite the threats of protests in some parts of the country.

A total of 688 660 candidates were registered to write the examination this year, of which 550 127 were Full Time candidates and 138 533 were Part Time candidates. These candidates wrote their examination across 6 740 examination centres where invigilation was conducted by an estimated 65 000 invigilators.

A total of 258 NSC question papers for the November 2014 and March 2015 examinations were set by the Department of Basic Education and externally moderated by Umalusi.

Marking commenced on Sunday, 30 November with 41 000 markers involved in the marking of the scripts at 118 marking venues across the country.

The marking of the 2014 NSC examinations will be concluded across all provincial education departments by 18 December 2014. All marks will then be captured on the computer system of the National Department of Basic Education in preparation for Umalusi’s standardization processes to take place from December 21 to 23.

The Minister will announce the 2014 NSC results on the 5 January 2015 but pupils can collect their statements of results from their various schools on the 6th January 2015 at 8am.