Cape Town - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has urged National Senior Certificate (NSC) candidates who might struggle to reach their designated exam centres due to the taxi strike, to write at the nearest exam centre.
This is among the contingency measures the department has put in place to ensure that matrics don’t miss their exams, as the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) announced a provincial taxi shutdown on Monday and Tuesday.
On Sunday, Education MEC David Maynier called for the taxi council to call off or postpone the strike, saying that the planned action would have a serious impact on pupils reaching their exam centres.
About 60 022 candidates are expected to sit for life sciences and geography on Monday and Tuesday, along with a number of smaller subjects.
“The Class of 2022 has had such a tough road to matric, missing lots of teaching and learning time in Grades 10 and 11, along with the added burden of load shedding. If candidates miss their exams, they will only be able to write again in May/June 2023, delaying their matriculation and thus their future employment and studies. While we respect the right to strike action, we urge Santaco to delay the strike rather than risk delaying the future of our children,” said Maynier.
He said contingency measures included schools assisting candidates if they could with alternative transport and hostel facilities where available.
Schools were expected to communicate directly with their candidates.
“In addition, our districts have made contingency plans for matric candidates who are not able to reach their designated exam centre despite their best efforts.”
Cape Times