Education officials warn service delivery protests pose a serious threat to matric exams

Grade 12 pupils sitting for their final-year examinations face an uphill battle as they grapple with service delivery protests, inclement weather and rolling blackouts, which have prevented some of them from writing.

The Education Department briefed the media in Pretoria on Sunday on the progress of the National Senior Certificate exams which began on the 25^th of October. 923 000 full-time and part-time candidates are sitting for the National Senior Certificate this year.

According to the Education Department, service delivery protests are becoming a deterrent to matric pupils. In Mngungundlovu in KwaZulu-Natal, police had to be called in to escort education officials to the examination centres due to a service delivery protest. While in Etwatwa on the East Rand, some learners were not able to sit for their exams last Monday.

Matanzima Mweli, the department’s Director General explained: “On Monday when exams were written by almost all candidates, 53 learners in Gauteng in the Etwatwa area could not write exams simply because of service delivery protests. They were in the area where there were shooting incidents and those learners missed an opportunity to write exams on Monday.”

Matanzima appeals to communities not to use learners as pawns during the final exam period.

“We therefore, truly appeal to members of the community to allow the examinations to proceed. The repercussions for not doing so are devastating to learners and the communities themselves as it is the children of the same communities that suffer the consequences,” said Mweli.

Matric exams started on 31 October and over the past week there have been numerous disruptions. In Vosloorus there were service delivery protests, while in Impendle, KwaZulu-Natal, police had to escort pupils due to protests. There were also disruptions in parts of the Northern Cape, where writing eventually took place.

“In the case where learners are not able to write the examination, it means that they will rewrite the missed papers only in May/June next year. That is not fair on the learners who have already endured a lot as a result of Covid-19, among other challenges,” said Mweli.

Source: Eyewitness News, Daily Maverick, SABC News, Image from Twitter: @SABCNews

Doctor Mahlaule

Doctor Mahlaule previously worked as a Freelance Journalist at Find-it SA where he was responsible for writing news articles and sharing them on social media platforms. Doctor Mahlaule holds a Diploma in Journalism, BA in Communication Science and a BA Honours in Media Studies. Doctor began his journey as a knowledge Management and Communications Intern at Zenex Foundation. He was responsible for support in event management, social media, website maintenance, writing and brand management. On weekends Doctor attends prison ministry and shares the scriptures with inmates at Krugersdorp prison and plays soccer in the afternoon on some weekends. He has a passion for reading and writing and enjoys going out with friends and socialising in his spare time. He has a one-year-old son and is planning on getting married soon. When asked about what keeps him going, he said: “My family keeps me going. I’m the man I am because I come from a loving home. I have a very supportive family who always encourages me to keep pushing hard.”

See Full Bio