Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Department of Basic Education said the first day of the National Senior Certificate examination got under way without any “major” challenges in all provinces.
About 794 000 pupils sat for the two-hour English Paper 1 in 6 800 centres on Monday.
In a statement, the department said that, despite the rain in parts of KwaZulu-Natal, there were no reported disruptions.
However, Ferndale High School in Gauteng apparently experienced some challenges due to the late arrival of some question papers.
Allegations were that there was a shortage of papers delivered to the school – and, while some pupils began writing at 09:00, some had to start writing an hour later.
Speaking to News24, a pupil from the school said he was among those who started writing at 09:00, but said some of his peers had to face delays.
“I was part of the first half of the group that got the paper, and we started at 09:00. We had to finish by 11:00. And the rest of the people in the hall started an hour later, which saw them finish at 12:00,” the pupil said.
He said that, even though the group who began writing at 09:00 finished at 11:00, they still had to wait for the rest of the pupils to finish at 12:00 before departing the school hall.
“I can’t imagine how they felt seeing others write. I am sure they felt nervous and anxious because they had to wait for the papers, while watching everybody else wrote. I am sure that was a lot of pressure on them.”
The department’s spokesperson, Steve Mabona, could not confirm the incident.
He said the department would issue a statement on Tuesday.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga praised the class of 2022 for their resilience and perseverance.
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