Question No. 1785
Dr J C Kloppers-Lourens (Democratic Alliance) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
Whether she intends taking any steps with regard to grade 12 learners who do not return to school after their final school examination, but only report to their respective schools to write their national senior certificate examination, if not, why not; if so, what steps?
Reply:
The Department of Education, as part of its drive to ensure that maximum time is allocated to teaching and learning, has since 2008 with the implementation of the new curriculum in the further education and training (FET) band, re-structured the commencement of the writing of the final national senior certificate examinations to commence early in November or late October.
This decision was also taken in response to the previous practice of candidate’s failure to return to school after the preparatory examinations. This new dispensation has been implemented in 2008 and in 2009 and provincial education departments have been requested to monitor the implementation of this new dispensation across all schools.
There have been no reports of wide scale absenteeism of candidates from schools prior to the examination and my department will continue to monitor and support schools in this regard. If I am informed that absenteeism is on the increase then I will resort to punitive measures against candidates that refuse to maximise the teaching time made available to them.
Source: Department of Education
