Senior manager Mary Malia said Umalusi observed a shortage of staff across the nine provinces, which remains an issue requiring a sustainable solution from the department. However, she said contingency measures are in place to mitigate the risk.
“Umalusi is satisfied the four assessment bodies have implemented measures to ensure adequate resources are in place for managing the examinations. However, the DBE continues to face challenges related to staff shortages,” she said.
While contingency plans are in place for the exams, Umalusi urged the department to work towards a sustainable solution to address the issue for future examination cycles, ensuring long-term stability in exam administration, said Malia.
For the NSC the DBE registered 882,336 candidates and the IEB registered 16,321 candidates, she said.
Umalusi requirements for internal assessments have been complied with in terms of printing, packaging, storage and distribution across the four assessment bodies, said Malia.
“A risk assessment for printing packages and distribution has been conducted by the assessment bodies, and appropriate litigating strategies are in place. Storage locations have undergone audits, and norms and standards for the security of examining materials are established and strictly enforced. However, some storage locations have been partially approved by the DBE to mitigate this risk.
“Overall Umalusi is satisfied with the continuous enhancement of security measures, particularly the expedited vetting of individuals involved in handling live session papers.”
All systems ready for 2024 end-of-year national examinations: Umalusi
The Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) says the system is ready to administer the 2024 end-of-year national examinations.
The exams are set to run from October 21 to November 27.
According to the quality assurance council, more than 1.1-million candidates are registered to write the National Senior Certificate (NSC), National Certificate: Vocational (NC:V) L2-L4, Nated Report 190/191 (N2—N3) and GETC: Abet exams.
On Friday Umalusi CEO Mafu Rakometsi briefed the media on the state of readiness of the public assessment bodies, the department of basic education (DBE) and the department of higher education and training (DHET), and private assessment bodies the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) and the SA Comprehensive Assessment Institute (Sacai) to conduct, administer and manage the exams.
Umalusi is mandated to audit the state of readiness of the public and private assessment bodies to conduct, administer and manage national examinations before their commencement. It tracks compliance and improvement directives issued annually to assessment bodies after the national examinations.
“Umalusi applauds the efforts of the DBE, provincial departments of education, IEB, Sacai and DHET for doing everything humanly possible to uphold the credibility and integrity of the examinations,” said Rakometsi.
The end-of-year exams will be administered at about 9,200 examination centres across the country.
Senior manager Dr Mary-Antoinette Dliwayo, providing a picture of the status of the examination processes for all four assessment bodies, said all the question papers for the November 2024 examinations have undergone moderation, fully comply with Umalusi's quality assurance standards and have been approved.
Dliwayo said all the examination timetables are available.
“The registration data have been received by Umalusi to form the formal assessment bodies for the class of 2024, except for Nated, as it is busy with its registration processes. The printing of examination materials is taking place in accordance with the printing management plans of the assessment bodies,” she said.
“The audit of examination centres and storage points for examination materials, including scripts, have been completed and risk assessments have been conducted. Measures are in place to mitigate identified risks.”
Examination centres have been profiled according to their risk levels, and appropriate profile monitoring measures have been implemented for high-risk centres, she added.
Senior manager Mary Malia said Umalusi observed a shortage of staff across the nine provinces, which remains an issue requiring a sustainable solution from the department. However, she said contingency measures are in place to mitigate the risk.
“Umalusi is satisfied the four assessment bodies have implemented measures to ensure adequate resources are in place for managing the examinations. However, the DBE continues to face challenges related to staff shortages,” she said.
While contingency plans are in place for the exams, Umalusi urged the department to work towards a sustainable solution to address the issue for future examination cycles, ensuring long-term stability in exam administration, said Malia.
For the NSC the DBE registered 882,336 candidates and the IEB registered 16,321 candidates, she said.
Umalusi requirements for internal assessments have been complied with in terms of printing, packaging, storage and distribution across the four assessment bodies, said Malia.
“A risk assessment for printing packages and distribution has been conducted by the assessment bodies, and appropriate litigating strategies are in place. Storage locations have undergone audits, and norms and standards for the security of examining materials are established and strictly enforced. However, some storage locations have been partially approved by the DBE to mitigate this risk.
“Overall Umalusi is satisfied with the continuous enhancement of security measures, particularly the expedited vetting of individuals involved in handling live session papers.”
Rakometsi expressed concern about the low number of candidates, especially in the public system, who apply for assessment concessions annually.
“Another matter of equal importance relates to elimination of errors in question papers. To tighten our oversight role as a quality council, we intensified training of all our external moderators. In addition, we had focused training sessions with the moderators responsible for subjects which have in the past caused public debates,” he said.
He issued a stern warning to pupils and teachers to refrain from involvement in all forms of cheating during the examinations: “Cheating compromises the integrity of our national examination system, which we are mandated to protect.”
To date 13 people have been arrested in connection with the selling of fraudulent matric certificates, Rakometsi said.
Umalusi does not accredit online schools, he said, adding that the DBE is at an advanced stage of finalising interim measures and guidelines to regulate online schools.
“The guidelines aim to establish the national requirements for registration of online schools by the provincial education departments and indicate the requirements to be met for online schools to be accredited by Umalusi, among others. Once finalised, the guidelines will be shared with the public.”
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