Education Department Happy With First Week Of Matric Marking

A report has been released by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) stating that they are satisfied with the first week of marking of the matric examinations.

Within the first week, these markers have made lots of progress. In Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Gauteng marking started in December 2020, however, the other provinces started after the 4th of January 2021.

More than 96% of the 46 192 markers reported at the 177 marking centres, by Thursday 7 January 2021.

Mr Mathanzima Mweli, Director-General of the DBE, started monitoring the marking on Monday 4 January. Mweli started his journey in the Western Cape, followed by the Eastern Cape and Free State. In total, he has visited 53 marking centres.

Mweli will continue his journey to the Northern Cape, North West, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and KwaZulu-Natal on 18 January 2021.

The DBE has been focusing on ensuring that these exams are safe for all markers and that COVID-19 regulations are set in place. Mweli says that they cannot afford for the centres to be hotspots for the virus.

Markers are asked to wear their masks, social distance themselves and to sanitize their hands when inside the marking centres to keep them and the other markers safe.

 Markers are divided into groups of 5 to 7 markers, who are directly supervised by a senior marker. A group of seven senior markers are then supervised by a deputy chief marker, who reports to the chief marker. The chief marker is responsible for the management of marking of a specific question paper.

The internal moderator, DBE and Umalusi oversee the whole marking process.

Marking will continue to take place until 22 January 2021 and the results should be released on 23 February 2021.

Progress report on the first week of the 2020 NSC Exams marking process @DBE_SA @ElijahMhlanga @HubertMweli #Matric2020 pic.twitter.com/YZJhO57Ata

— Dr Reginah Mhaule (@ReginahMhaule) January 8, 2021