By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert

With less than fifteen days before the matric class of 2023 take that final seat in the examination room, various organisation including the quality assurance body, Umalusi is appealing to communities to not interfere.

As concerns mount about potential disruptions, including load-shedding, cheating and community protests that could negatively affect the learners, Biki Lepota of Umalusi said that various contingency plans are in place.

“In terms of loadshedding, we are pleased to announce that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has been in discussion with Eskom to ensure that our learners are not affected by rolling black outs. On the days where examination papers require power availability, Eskom has been requested to suspend loadshedding and if this is not possible, many schools have generators or are prepared to rent one, while others are relying on newly installed solar panels,” he said.

In terms of community protests that affect learners on an annual basis, Lapota said Umalusi is unable to tackle this challenge as it is solely relying on provincial education departments and the South African Police Services (SAPS) to deal with the issues head on.

“Although this is an annual occurrence, there is little we can do on our side. SAPS and the provincial education departments must have a discussion with the community to avoid any issues, however if protests do occur, our various department will do all it can to make sure that no learner is disadvantaged for challenges out of their control,” he added.

With more than 920 000 candidates who are scheduled to write their matric exams this year, Umalusi briefed the media on Friday morning following an audit of the state of readiness of the public and private assessment bodies to conduct, administer and manage the national examinations.

The findings of the audit of the systems used by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) revealed that both these public assessment bodies are ready to conduct, administer and manage the exams.

Lapota said that Umalusi will monitor the running of the exams in both the public and private assessment systems to ensure that their conduct, administration, and management are in full compliance with the relevant regulations.

“We have put various systems in place in the event of any challenges faced during the exam period. We are aware of the risks associated with the running of these exams, but we can guarantee that we will be on top of things this year to make sure all is well,” he reiterated.