Most matric results to be online from midnight on Tuesday

The class of 2015 has one more sleep until the Department of Basic Education starts releasing matric results for eight of the nine provinces from midnight on Tuesday.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will first announce the national pass rate on television at 18:00 on Tuesday January 5 for pupils who wrote the exams administered by the department.

And then the agonising wait until midnight, when all results, except those for Western Cape, go live on the department's website www.dbe.gov.za.

Results will also be available on SowetanLIVE via TimesLIVE from 06:00 on Wednesday

Then, schools in all provinces, except the Western Cape, will open at 08:00 for pupils to fetch results and collect their National Senior Certificate, otherwise known as a matric.

Matric exam quality assurer Umalusi has already warned that the national pass rate will be lower than the 75.8% for the class of 2014.” 

However, even though the results will be available online, the department would rather pupils wait a few hours and get their results in person from their school.

This is so that they are not alone and pupils who fared worse than expected or failed, will have ready access to psychological support, and the chance of a do-over.

Anybody who failed or is distraught over their results will be given counselling and be informed about the department's "Second Chance" programme, department spokesperson Elihah Mhlanga said.

"They need to know that, unlike previous years, this time we have a dedicated programme to make sure that before the end of the year you have your certificate," said Mhlanga. "We are going to support you."

More details about the '"Second Chance" programme would be provided on Thursday, and pupils who wanted to participate, would be primed to expect the information.

A total of 674 232 full-time and 127,456 part-time matric candidates enrolled to write.

Pupils in Western Cape would have to wait longer than the rest of the country, and would be able to collect their results at schools from noon on January 6, and online from 14:00 of the same day.

Spokesperson Jessica Shelver said this was so that school principals could analyse the results and check for any discrepancies.

She said they had had problems in the past and had chosen to do a final check.

This means that the Western Cape's results would not be online with the rest of the country at midnight on Tuesday.

They would be online from 14:00 on Wednesday on http://www.westerncape.gov.za/service/examination-information-and-results.

Source: News24