NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 1352
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 18/09/09
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 17-2009)
Dr J C Kloppers-Lourens (DA) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) What is the state of readiness of her department for the National
Senior Certificate Examinations (NSCEs) for 2009;
(2) whether any problems are forseen for the upcoming NSCEs; if so, what
problems;
(3) whether any plans are in place to avoid the problems which occurred
with the 2008 NSCEs; if not, why not; if so, what plans? NW1708E
REPLY:
1) The Department of Education is ready and confident that the 2009
National Senior Certificate examination will be successfully
administered. The Department of Education supports and monitors the
provincial education departments on an ongoing basis through on-site
audits of examination systems and processes, regular reporting and
feedback, inter-provincial meetings and teleconferences. This approach
has assisted in identifying the shortcomings as they occur, and
rectifying them immediately.
2) There are no problems that are foreseen at this stage. All possible
problems have been identified and plans have been put in place to
address them effectively.
3) Clear plans have been put in place to ensure that all candidates
received their results timeously. The problem of not releasing the
results all the candidates on the scheduled release date, in 2008,
emanated from the new emphasis being placed on school based assessment
(SBA) by the Department of Education. Improved control systems were
put in place to ensure that candidates are not resulted if the SBA is
outstanding, a process that was not in place in previous years. This
year all Provincial Education Departments have established quarterly
monitoring systems that will ensure that schools are assessing their
learners on a continuous basis and defaulting schools will be
identified and remedial measures will be initiated, to ensure that
moderated SBA marks are collected. The computer system that was
implemented for the first time, in the 2008 examination, has
successfully processed the 2009 supplementary examination results and
is being further enhanced and improved to ensure that there are no
glitches in the 2009 NSC examination. The results of the 2009
examination will be released on 7 January 2010 an this will allow
school principals and the officials in the Provincial Education
Departments more time to verify and check all results before they are
released.
Compiler:
Ext:
DIRECTOR GENERAL
DATE:
QUESTION 1352 APPROVED/NOT APPROVED/AMENDED
MRS. M A. MOTSHEKGA, MP
MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION
DATE: