Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer has urged politicians, community groups, and businesses to avoid causing any disruptions in the coming eight weeks.
I appeal to you to put the interests of our children first over the next two months. This is the first matric class to have spent their entire Grade 12 year in pandemic conditions. They have been through enough. We owe it to them to make sure that they have the best possible chance of succeeding in these exams and completing their school career.
The National Senior Certificate (NSC) practical exams will begin on Tuesday, 19 October, with 10,058 students expecting to finish their Computer Applications Technology (CAT) practical, and 875 students expected to complete their Information Technology (IT) practical on Wednesday.
While she notes that the election period comes with disruptive behaviour, the MEC said that she hopes protests and strikes can be avoided during the exam period.
Schäfer also called on Eskom to keep the lights on for the duration of the matric exams.
Unfortunately, we face the looming threat of load-shedding, which was implemented for a large part of last week. It is extremely disappointing that this has again reared its head just as the NSC practical tasks are set to begin.
