Load shedding has presented a troubling hurdle for matric pupils since the start of the final National Senior Certificate exams two weeks ago. But now, public strike fears have been added to the mix – risking further disruptions for the exams.
During a media briefing on Sunday (6 November), The Department of Basic Education (DBE) confirmed that 53 matrics were prevented from writing their exams due to public service protests over deadlocked wage negotiations with the government.
“We [the DBE] are very concerned about the imminent public service strike because this includes our teachers, and it has the potential to disrupt final matric exams even further,” said DBE director-general Mathanzima Mweli.
Mweli singled out the South African National Civic Organization (Sanco) and called for the workers to recognise the importance of these exams for the future of the matric class of 2022 and move against a potential strike at public schools, as they are the primary stake in civil society.
“If we get the support of Sanco, we should be able to get the support of broader civil society. We have not arranged a meeting with them because they are a political formation, but it’s a matter I will be discussing with the minister of education,” said Mweli.
The director-general noted that the department has put together a contingency plan if a nationwide strike occurs during the writing period.
However, shortly before the National Senior Certificate exams started, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said they also had a contingency plan to mitigate the disruptions of load shedding on this year’s exams. The plan involved an exam timetable that accommodates the load-shedding schedule, with some exam papers being written before or after the set times.
This plan seems to have done little to stop the impact of relentless load shedding. Recently, the DBE said that load shedding had affected over 4,000 matric pupils since the start of their exams.
Last week, 119 examination centres were affected by load shedding, including an incident where 14 computers blew during a computer applications technology exam at a school in Gauteng.
These disruptions have led to many of the matrics being told that they’ll have to rewrite their affected exams – including the 14 pupils writing the computer applications technology exam.
Four unions involved in the wage dispute are expected to announce their next course of action on Monday (7 November) following the deadlocked negotiations with the government. If they chose to strike, hundreds of thousands of public servants would join the PSA’s 235,000 members to make the industrial action an 800,000-strong affair.
Mweli, however, is confident that the unions recognise that the exams are in the process of being written.
“All the role players involved in the salary negotiations indicated to us [the DBE] that they have prioritised matric exams and would ensure that exams are not disturbed,” said Mweli.
Warning over matric exam disruptions