Basic education minister Angie Motshekga has raised alarm about ongoing disruptions at schools as a result of service delivery protests.

The minister said she was gravely concerned as the candidates writing their national senior certificate exams were prevented from writing.

“Exams were disrupted in various parts of KwaZulu-Natal by protesting members of the community. In Zebediela, Limpopo, learning and teaching has been disrupted by protesting community members complaining about the tarred road connecting the village to the main road,” Motshekga said.

Also in North West, learning and teaching was disrupted by protests related to service delivery.

“These learners are missing out on critical examinations which are very key towards their final national senior certificate examinations coming up in a few months. It saddens me that their future is compromised by service delivery issues that have nothing or very little to do with them. We appeal to communities to assist us by not allowing education and our children’s future to be jeopardised by protests,” Motshekga said.

Motshekga is due to contact education MECs in the affected provinces to find a solution and implement a recovery plan for the learners to catch up on lost time and write their mid-year examinations.

“We are extremely concerned because those candidates who are writing the matric exams now are those who previously didn’t perform well and now wish to upgrade their marks. Those who were out of school without a matric certificate are having their lives disrupted yet again through no fault of theirs even as they try to pass matric.”

Mid-year exams are coming to an end on Friday.