The KwaZulu-Natal education department was in high spirits as the matric class of 2023 near the end of the National Senior Certificate exams in the coming days.
The department said it was pleased with how smooth the examinations ran since it started on October 30 and would finish on December 6.
It also acknowledged those who worked to organise the 2023 NSC exams.
On Thursday morning, more than 200,000 learners in KwaZulu-Natal will sit down to write the English HL P3 (3hrs), English FAL P3 (2 1⁄2 hrs) and English SAL P3 (2 1⁄2 hrs) in the morning session.
KZN Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education, Mbali Frazer urged matric learners who finish their exams to leave behind their uniforms to help those less fortunate.
“As we congratulate all our learners for reaching this milestone, we want to urge them to continue to conduct themselves appropriately beyond this point. We strongly discourage the attendance of pen down celebrations and Matric rage parties, which are extremely dangerous and the conduct of learners ripping off their school uniform as a sign of excitement and achievement upon finishing their examinations.
“We advise all learners to rather leave the uniform at their respective schools so that their educators can help those who would be in need of the uniform the following year,” said Frazer.
IOL reported on learners being nervous during the first day of exams but settled down as the first paper got under way, with English Paper 1.
Kharwastan Secondary School learner Kyriesha Reddy, 17, told IOL the paper was better than she expected.
Reddy also commended the teachers who helped organise the exams.
“When I entered school, I was really nervous because it was the NSC exam. When I got to the hall and started filling in all of those documents, it became a bit overwhelming, but once I sat down and collected myself, it was better and even exciting because it was the final.
“I thought it would be hard by looking at the past years' papers I studied, but when I saw today’s paper, it was much better than I expected it to be.
“The school handled everything really well. They first prayed for all of us and then sat us down. They were really organised about everything,” Reddy said.
IOL