It is only a matter of time before the matric learners face their final senior certificate examination. The officials of the Department of Education in Limpopo are confident that they will improve the pass rate, compared to last year.

According to the spokesperson of the department, Mr Ndo Mangala, this year’s matric exams will be written between November 3 and December 3 and about 94 000 learners will be writing.

He said that, in an endeavour to give optimal support to the learners of the province to achieve the best possible results, the department has embarked on several programmes like Saturday classes, winter enrichment, examination-readiness assessment tasks and spring classes.

Mangala explained that, from 2008, the senior certificate, better known as matric, will be replaced by a new school-leaving qualification for full-time candidates. It will be called the National Senior Certificate and the new certificate will bring significant changes.

The new Grade 12 examination will be a national affair. The new curriculum is the first national senior certificate examination of its kind. The new examination will no longer have the higher and standard grades, which were introduced in 1975. Subjects will be offered at one level and entry into universities from 2009 will be determined by how well a Grade 12 performs and not, as in the past, by the number of mainly higher-grade subjects successfully completed.

He said that the department was positive that they were going to improve the 58% pass rate that Limpopo had last year. “All the systems are in place to ensure that they are successful. Even though it is difficult to predict what is going to happen, they are positive that they are ready with the efforts that they had put together with their teachers throughout the year. The department wishes all the grade 12s the best of luck,” said Mangala.

According to the principal of Marholeni High School at Njakanjaka, Mr TL Mashaba, he is positive that the Grade 12s will perform well. He said that in an attempt to get good results, morning and afternoon study sessions were conducted. Teachers used the example question papers set by the department and a report was compiled every term.