About one million grade12 pupils will sit for their National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations 34 days from now.

This was announced by minister of basic education Angie Motshekga on Thursday morning during a virtual media briefing when outlining developments in the basic education sector and the 2020 matric exam countdown. 

Motshekga said the advent of Covid-19  has necessitated the need to reschedule the 2020 NSC examinations to accommodate the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

"As we already announced before, the June Senior Certificate examination was postponed and will now be written together with the NDC examination in November. The examination timetable for the combined June and November exams had to be amended so it will commence in November  instead of October. The late start of the examination is intended to allow as much time as possible to cover critical curriculum content and to ensure that all examination processes are appropriately managed," Motshekga said. 

She said the combined examination makes it the largest public exams that has been administered in the country with more than one million candidates. 

"It is going to be a huge task but one that we will need to ensure it is managed and coordinated smoothly. The writing of the NSC examinations  will commence on November 5 and conclude on December 15," Motshekga said.

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She said all examination centres, both public and Independent, have been audited in preparation for the combined examination.

"A protocol to ensure compliance with Covid-19 protocols has been developed and distributed to guide all the chief invigilators, invigilators and all other officials involved in the management of the conduct and administration of the examination. All provincial education departments have secured the extra rooms at existing examination centres that are needed for the writing of the combined November grade 12 exams," she said.

Speaking about the school calendar, Motshekga said they have received many inquiries about the revised school calendar for 2021.

"I want to confirm that schools will reopen on January 25 next year and the school calendar will be Gazette tomorrow and it will be made available for the public. We will need to carry over some of the curriculum work into 2021 and we have done our best to accommodate the interests of everybody but our priority is the learner," she said.