The Department of Basic Education says it is ready, to begin with marking matric exam scripts despite a rise in Covid-19 cases.
As the matric class of 2021 prepares to kick off their festive holidays while others sit for their final exam on Tuesday, the education department has appointed more than 40 000 markers to mark scripts across 193 centres on Tuesday 08 December 2021.
It has been reported that teacher unions SADTU and the NAPTOSA have made a joint submission to the education department that teachers must test negative for Covid-19 prior to accessing exam centres.
The basic education department’s spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga has said that all the necessary preparations have been put in place to ensure that marking will be done safely despite rising infection numbers brought about by the Omicron Covid-19 variant, particularly in Gauteng.
Protect people; these are the same protocols that we applied last year where we respect social distancing. We already have deliveries in the marking centres of provinces. In the marking centres we have protective equipment including sanitisers but we also have appointed the compliance officers to make sure that everyone complies.
He also stated that currently, it would be impossible to test all 41 500 markers within the currently set marking period which will end on 22 December 2021. He also says that most of the markers have already been vaccinated.
The department has also advised teachers who have not been vaccinated to do so as soon as possible.
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