Security has been beefed up around national senior certificate examination papers and centres in Limpopo, basic education minister Angie Motshekga said on Monday, after security breaches in the province in the past years.

Motshekga said: “In terms of system readiness, we have been closely tracking each of the nine provinces in terms of learner performance data and curriculum coverage as well as other areas of interest. This is to ensure that we can pick up challenges in areas such as curriculum coverage in time to intervene.”

The minister said the department is expecting  787 281 pupils to sit for this year’s exams at 8000 examination centres next month.

“We have also taken a decision to do away with the supplementary examinations starting next year. Instead, we have made a second examination opportunity available for all pupils, those who may have failed subjects in the 2018 national senior certificate, but also those who need an opportunity for a second chance to complete their matric.

"One of the major reasons for this change is that through monitoring the system we have noted that on average around 40 000 pupils who enrol for supplementary examinations every year do not turn up to write their exams. This results in massive wasteful expenditure."

Motshekga added that these exams will take place in June to allow those writing enough time for revision.