Pressure mounts for Matrics who entered secondary school during the pandemic

• The current Matric class of 2024 started secondary school when the lockdowns hit.
• It is also the first class to review the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in the Foundation Stage.
• Nevertheless, the Ministry of Basic Education believes that the class is well prepared to continue the upward trend in the pass rate of recent years.

Of the many disruptions brought about by COVID-19, education was perhaps hit hardest by the subsequent lockdowns.

Suddenly, teachers were teaching online and students were taking classes via Zoom calls. The education system had to do what it could to keep the wheels of school turning, but there were constant concerns about the quality of education students were receiving.

Now, the Matric Class of 2024 is preparing to sit their final National Senior Certificate exams and their secondary school careers have been embedded in the pandemic. As the Deputy Director-General for Curriculum at the Department of Basic Education (DBE), Dr Barney Mthembu, says, this class has had its fair share of challenges.

“Firstly, the Class of 2024 were in Grade R in 2012, the year of the implementation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in the Foundation Stage. Secondly, they entered Grade 8 in 2020 at the height of COVID-19, meaning their transition from primary to secondary school was severely disrupted. Thirdly, their Year 9 (2021), which is crucial for subject selection in Grade 10, was also disrupted by COVID-19,” Mthembu said.

Fortunately, the DBE has taken measures to help students who were attending school during this time. Fortunately, this group of Matrics were able to return to the classrooms from grade 10 and cover the material they needed.

According to the DBE, this Matrics class also has the advantage of hiring teachers who achieved better results in 2022 and 2023. This will motivate those teachers and students to improve their results even further.

This year, 732,448 full-time students have registered to sit the NSC examinations, 8,400 more than in 2023. KwaZulu-Natal has the largest number of Matrics registered to sit the examinations, while Northern Cape has the smallest number.

• KwaZulu-Natal – 172,213 candidates,
• Gauteng – 136,620 candidates,
• Eastern Cape – 103,975 candidates,
• Limpopo – 94,236 candidates,
• Mpumalanga – 68,455 candidates,
• Western Cape – 64,552 candidates,
• Northwest – 41,840 candidates,
• Free State – 37,737 candidates,
• North Cape 13,180 candidates.

136,195 part-time candidates will take part in the exams.

The DBE reports that 162 exam questions for the 2024 exams have been prepared and approved by Umalusi. These papers are ready to be handed over to provincial departments for printing.

Post-exam plans

The NSC examinations will be held from October 21 to November 27. The department notes that these examinations will be held in 6,909 centres in all nine provinces.

The marking will start on November 27 with 55,053 markings, spread over 188 marking centers.

The final exam results for the class of 2024 will be announced on January 15, 2025, and the results will be released on January 16, 2025. The graduating class of 2023 achieved an overall pass rate of 82.9 percent, 2.8 percentage points higher than the overall pass rate of the class of 2022.

We do not envy the pressure the class of 2024 is facing and wish them the best of luck in their upcoming exams.