“We continue to be concerned about blackouts that will negatively impact on pupils throughout the process of writing. Any disturbance during revision causes anxiety,” Sadtu said.
“Blackouts cause delays in travelling and students may find themselves arriving at examination centres emotionally disturbed. The candidates writing and their teachers will carry levels of anxiety through the examination period because they have not rested as they needed to cover three years of work.
“We commend teachers and pupils for being innovative in the face of this challenge.”
Flexibility in time management
Sadtu called on the basic education department to be flexible with time management to accommodate pupils and teachers arriving late due to delays caused by load-shedding.
“We hope all examination centres have facilities in place to ensure they are not affected by load-shedding,” said the union.
Rewrites for CAT and IT students
The department said students who write the CAT and IT exams who fall victim to load-shedding will have another opportunity to complete the exams in December.
“In the unlikely event load-shedding affects the writing of CAT and IT, the department of basic education has a rewrite paper scheduled for December 7. Rewrites for CAT and IT are planned for every examination, given computer glitches could cause candidates not to complete their examinations,” said the department.
Matrics late for exams due to load-shedding must be accommodated, says Sadtu
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) is the latest to express concern about the impact Eskom’s ongoing load-shedding has on matric exams.
This week more than 920,000 full-time and part-time matric pupils started their final exams, with English paper 1 the first exam written on Monday.
Some pupils wrote the computer applications technology (CAT) and information technology (IT) papers on October 25 and 26.
Eskom is implementing stage 1 load-shedding during the day and stage 2 after 4pm every day until Friday.
Sadtu said not all schools could afford alternative energy sources to ensure effective learning and teaching.
It said some pupils could not properly prepare for exams in their homes due to load-shedding.
“We continue to be concerned about blackouts that will negatively impact on pupils throughout the process of writing. Any disturbance during revision causes anxiety,” Sadtu said.
“Blackouts cause delays in travelling and students may find themselves arriving at examination centres emotionally disturbed. The candidates writing and their teachers will carry levels of anxiety through the examination period because they have not rested as they needed to cover three years of work.
“We commend teachers and pupils for being innovative in the face of this challenge.”
Flexibility in time management
Sadtu called on the basic education department to be flexible with time management to accommodate pupils and teachers arriving late due to delays caused by load-shedding.
“We hope all examination centres have facilities in place to ensure they are not affected by load-shedding,” said the union.
Rewrites for CAT and IT students
The department said students who write the CAT and IT exams who fall victim to load-shedding will have another opportunity to complete the exams in December.
“In the unlikely event load-shedding affects the writing of CAT and IT, the department of basic education has a rewrite paper scheduled for December 7. Rewrites for CAT and IT are planned for every examination, given computer glitches could cause candidates not to complete their examinations,” said the department.
It said the security of exam papers is not threatened by load-shedding.
“Provincial education departments factored this into their plans and all question papers are secure. Printing, packing and distribution will be completed on time,” it said.
‘Great lengths to ensure exams run smoothly’
Basic education minister Angie Motshekga said the department has gone to great lengths to ensure exams run smoothly for the class of 2022.
“We’ve gone to great lengths to ensure the exams happen without any irregularities. All pupils for the national certificates have signed commitments to maintain honesty and not participate in irregularities during exams,” she said.
“We are fully prepared to administer the exams of 2022. We have a great challenge on our hands but we are ready.”
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