Ster and Vaalweekblad received this media release earlier today (18-10-2016) from the office of Mr David Makhura, Premier of Gauteng:

We have very high expectations for each learner to succeed and reclaim our number one status as the top performing province in the country.The National Senior Certificate examination (NSC) commences on the 19 October with Computer Applications Technology Practical exam, and concludes with Design on 29 November 2016. The districts and Provincial Monitoring Team (PMT) will efficiently monitor the NSC examinations. The main exam starts on the 24 October with the English paper.

The department has done everything possible to provide the best possible chance for each learner to do well in these exams. We want to assure the people of Gauteng that we are ready as a province

Gauteng Province has registered the second highest number of candidates, second to Kwa Zulu Natal. In total 153 973 candidates have registered to write compared to 169 661 in Kwa Zulu Natal and 110 565 in Limpopo (third highest). Of this total 112 192 full-time candidates and 41 781 part-time candidates will sit for the 2016 exams. In total, this is 153 973 Grade 12 learners.

The candidates will be writing their exams in 1 158 centres across all our 15 Districts in Gauteng.

We are pleased to note that more learners will be writing maths and science with 3 0000 more offering these subjects. On the other hand there is a slight decrease in number of learners that will be writing in the commerce stream.

Chief invigilators and invigilators for all examination centres have been officially appointed and trained drawn from head office, the districts and other stakeholder. An extensive network of 1 555 monitors has been established across the province to ensure that the processes relating to conduct, administration and management of the examination is fair, credible and of integrity. In addition to the process of monitoring, daily incident reports will be submitted by districts, collated and submitted to DBE and Umalusi.

The department is working in with law enforcement agencies to ensure that all measures are taken to strengthen security during the examination. Eighty (80) distribution points have been identified for the collection of question papers and submission of scripts. Appointed security companies with an armed guard, will escort all exam material.

 Learner Support and incentives

As part of our final push strategy to ensure the preparedness of learners, we have placed emphasis on the Secondary Schools Improvement Programme (SSIP). The programme has provided opportunities for intensified study and drill sessions aimed at increased content coverage as well as intensified exam practice.

The Secondary School Intervention Program (SSIP) is the major strategic intervention for progressed and high-risk learners. The SSIP is ongoing every Saturday and everyday over the school holidays.
We have established Matric Revision Camps across the province. The Matric Camps will also focus on the following two goals:

• Covering key topics that have not been sufficiently covered during the year
• Drilling learners in possible exam questions

We have divided these camps into three categories, High Risk Camp Sessions, Residential Holiday Camps and Walk-In Exam Camps. Over 72 000 Grade 12 learners receive support through a combination of these processes from 10 to 21 October 2016.

The High Risk Learners Camp was implemented across the province from the 6 to 10 October.  Over 5 300 learners from all 15 districts were bussed to 15 camps.  The learners have been identified as performing below set standards by the department.

From the 13 to 24 October we are accommodating 13 712 learners in 19 Residential Camps across all 15 districts.

We also have Walk in Camps in the Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni areas that will accommodate 40 327 learners in 108 sites.

We have continuously encouraged our learners to aim very high and offer several incentives. The top three achievers in each township school automatically obtain a full bursary which includes registration fees, tuition fees and prescribed books to the maximum bursary amount of R55 000 per academic year at a Higher Education Institution.

In addition, each school that scores 100% pass will automatically becomes a full ICT schools. That means from Grade 8-12 the schools will be fully kitted with smart boards, learners receive tablets with educational content and educators are provided laptop computers for teaching.

The Department appreciates that exams time can be very stressful. As part of measures to support learners during this period, the Department has a standing agreement with Child Line to assist learners who find themselves in stressful situations due to pressure they might experience from the exams.  Learners can phone Child Line on 08000 55 555 for counselling assistance.

The results of the exams will be released on the 5 January 2016 at schools and will give us a clear indication on how we are doing as we aim to compete at an international scale especially in maths, science and technology.

We would like to wish all our Grade 12 and all our learners the best of luck and assure them that they have our full support.  We are saying to them, when combining inspiration and hard work, the reward is always fulfilling.