Durban — KwaZulu-Natal matric exams started on a high note as many pupils said the English first additional language paper that was written on Monday was not difficult.
A couple of pupils who spoke to the Daily News soon after finishing writing said everything went well.
Awande Matshali from Umlazi ComTech High School, south of Durban, said the paper went well and he was hoping for high marks, adding that it was a great start for him.
“I think we all agree that the paper was relatively easy and was a great start for our examinations,” said Awande.
His sentiments were echoed by another matric pupil from the same school, Sibusisiwe Mbambo, who said the paper went well and she too was hoping to score high marks.
Kharwastan Secondary School pupil Kyriesha Reddy said the paper was better than she expected.
“I thought it would be hard by looking at the past years’ papers I studied, but when I saw today’s (Monday’s) paper, it was much better than I expected it to be,” Kyriesha said.
“The school handled everything really well. They first prayed for all of us and then sat us down. They were really organised about everything.”
Umlazi ComTech High School, which is one of the biggest and one of the schools with the most matric pupils, was visited by Basic Education Deputy Minister Dr Reginah Mhaule, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube as well provincial Education MEC Mbali Frazer, who all urged pupils to be calm and relaxed throughout the entire exams. The trio also visited Phoenix schools in the north of Durban.
Delivering the main address, the premier urged the pupils to emulate the Springboks, whom she said did all they could to defeat New Zealand in their nail-biting World Cup final on Saturday night. The premier said the team put in every effort to ensure they come back home with the cup. She also urged parents to support the pupils throughout the exam period. She said matric was the finish line of the 13 years of running and therefore such a long run cannot be derailed at the finish line.
“I think most of us watched the rugby final on Saturday and we all saw how (the) Springboks team put all their effort in ensuring that they win the match and you too you must do that. The team showed us that if you really want something, you put every effort to get it, so you must emulate the Springboks who fought hard from the start of the Rugby World Cup to finish,” said the premier.
Frazer said the department was ready for any disturbance that may occur including the bad weather that has been consistently disruptive in the province.
She said the provincial cabinet has formed a crisis committee where all departments are represented, including Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and police to ensure the smooth running of the exams.
She added that Cogta will immediately dispatch disaster management teams in case of disruptive downpours to ensure that exams were not disturbed while police were ensuring the safe transportation of the papers and guarding against leakages. She said her pass rate target this year was 100% maximum and 85% minimum.
Mhaule said the national department was looking up to KZN as the province with the most matric pupils to do well because the province’s good performance would mean the whole country would do well. She said the second focus province was Gauteng, which was the second in terms of matric pupils.
The total number of matric pupils in the country stands at 717 377 with 193 000 from KZN. The province was the most improved, jumping by 6.2% to score 83%, but Frazer said she expected nothing less than 85% this time.
Responding to the call, KZN Parents Association chairperson Vee Gani said as parents they were heeding the premier’s call and would ensure pupils get their full support. He called on every parent to treat all matric pupils as VIPs at this time, urging them to spare them from all household chores and to prepare nutritious meals for them so that their minds are all always sharp and ready for the next paper. – Additional reporting by Jehran Naidoo.
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