Matric exams: are the pupils ready?
2 October 2007, 18:51
Matric pupils anxiously waiting for the start of the final exams have more than the usual dose of exam jitters.
While the education department says it is all systems go for the exams, which begin next Wednesday, pupils say the public servants' strike earlier in 2007 has affected their preparation and perhaps even their future.
"We cannot use the teachers' strike as an excuse, but the fact that we completed the syllabus later than we were supposed to affected our preparation for the exams. Had we finished on time, it would have given us more time to revise. But there is nothing we can do now, except to study hard and do our best during the exams," said Solomon Naidoo of Savannah Park Secondary school in Shallcross.
With just six days to go before the start of the exams, many pupils said that while they were ready for the exams, they were also very nervous.
More than 120 000 matric pupils in the province will write their first paper, English Paper 1, next week.
Grade 12 pupil, Njabulo Dlamini, of Zeph Dlomo High School in KwaMashu said he was not 100 percent ready for the exams.
"I don't feel as ready as I should be. I have started my revision work, but there is so much to go through and I am getting quite worried. But I must just put my head down and study hard because I have only one chance to do this," he said.
Another matriculant Cameron Munro, 17, of Scottsburgh High School was very optimistic about the exams. "I have heard that the trial exams are harder than the finals and I found that the trials were not that difficult, so I am hoping that I will do well. I am not going to take any chances, though," he said.
He added that while he was concerned about one subject, he was pleased that the exam dates were well spaced out. "Just the last-minute revision, but I am ready for the start of my exams," he said.
The provincial education department could not release any information regarding the exams before an official press briefing next week.
However, the national department said that "everything was in order" for the start of the exams. The department also reiterated that the exams would not be postponed despite calls made by a pupils' organisation.
National Education spokesperson, Lunga Ngqengelele, said it would be impossible for the department to postpone the exams after the request from the Congress of South African Students (Cosas).
"The exams are set as early as the beginning of the year and there is a lot of planning that goes into the preparations.
Changing the dates would mean changing the entire process, and that is something that cannot happen now," he said.
He said the department, after the public sector strike, had to find alternative means of dealing with the problems - thus the education recovery plan.
"We have received satisfactory feedback from the provinces and we are happy with the way in which the recovery plan has been handled. We believe that all the pupils should be ready for the exams," he said.
Ngqengelele said that everything was ready for the start of the exams and over the past week the department had been preparing for an "event-free" exam period.
Despite matriculants' concerns over their performance next week, KwaZulu-Natal department of education spokesperson, Christi Naude, has urged them to go into their exams with the "mindset that they can do it".
Naude said matriculants should refrain from being defeatist at this stage before the exams have even begun. She suggested they continue to put in extra hours, get enough sleep, exercise and eat healthily until their big moment.
Last month Cosas had demanded that the Department of Education grant pupils 20 percent of their end-of-year marks to compensate for missed schooling or the postponement of the final year exams. In addition to this, the organisation called on the department to disclose the content areas to be examined in the final Grade 12 exams.
But their demands were rejected by national Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor.
While the education department says it is all systems go for the exams, which begin next Wednesday, pupils say the public servants' strike earlier in 2007 has affected their preparation and perhaps even their future.
"We cannot use the teachers' strike as an excuse, but the fact that we completed the syllabus later than we were supposed to affected our preparation for the exams. Had we finished on time, it would have given us more time to revise. But there is nothing we can do now, except to study hard and do our best during the exams," said Solomon Naidoo of Savannah Park Secondary school in Shallcross.
With just six days to go before the start of the exams, many pupils said that while they were ready for the exams, they were also very nervous.
More than 120 000 matric pupils in the province will write their first paper, English Paper 1, next week.
Grade 12 pupil, Njabulo Dlamini, of Zeph Dlomo High School in KwaMashu said he was not 100 percent ready for the exams.
"I don't feel as ready as I should be. I have started my revision work, but there is so much to go through and I am getting quite worried. But I must just put my head down and study hard because I have only one chance to do this," he said.
Another matriculant Cameron Munro, 17, of Scottsburgh High School was very optimistic about the exams. "I have heard that the trial exams are harder than the finals and I found that the trials were not that difficult, so I am hoping that I will do well. I am not going to take any chances, though," he said.
He added that while he was concerned about one subject, he was pleased that the exam dates were well spaced out. "Just the last-minute revision, but I am ready for the start of my exams," he said.
The provincial education department could not release any information regarding the exams before an official press briefing next week.
However, the national department said that "everything was in order" for the start of the exams. The department also reiterated that the exams would not be postponed despite calls made by a pupils' organisation.
National Education spokesperson, Lunga Ngqengelele, said it would be impossible for the department to postpone the exams after the request from the Congress of South African Students (Cosas).
"The exams are set as early as the beginning of the year and there is a lot of planning that goes into the preparations.
Changing the dates would mean changing the entire process, and that is something that cannot happen now," he said.
He said the department, after the public sector strike, had to find alternative means of dealing with the problems - thus the education recovery plan.
"We have received satisfactory feedback from the provinces and we are happy with the way in which the recovery plan has been handled. We believe that all the pupils should be ready for the exams," he said.
Ngqengelele said that everything was ready for the start of the exams and over the past week the department had been preparing for an "event-free" exam period.
Despite matriculants' concerns over their performance next week, KwaZulu-Natal department of education spokesperson, Christi Naude, has urged them to go into their exams with the "mindset that they can do it".
Naude said matriculants should refrain from being defeatist at this stage before the exams have even begun. She suggested they continue to put in extra hours, get enough sleep, exercise and eat healthily until their big moment.
Last month Cosas had demanded that the Department of Education grant pupils 20 percent of their end-of-year marks to compensate for missed schooling or the postponement of the final year exams. In addition to this, the organisation called on the department to disclose the content areas to be examined in the final Grade 12 exams.
But their demands were rejected by national Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Daily News on October 02, 2007
Durban
IOL ENTERTAINMENT
IOL TECHNOLOGY
IOL JOBS
IOL TRAVEL
IOL MOTORING
BUSINESS REPORT
