Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said they will communicate with the Department of Energy to try to suspend power cuts during the exams.
“When we write exams, we really do communicate a lot with the Department of Energy to say during this period, if possible, if they could just suspend power cuts,” she said while attending the provincial matric prayer service on Sunday at Kgolathuto Senior Secondary School in Phuthaditjhaba, Free State.
The department held the prayer service to encourage and motivate learners for their final exams.
The 2022 National Senior Certificate (NSC) final exams are expected to commence on October 31 to December 7, with more than 900 000 learners countrywide sitting for their exams.
Motshekga said as the minister she cannot guarantee that the Department of Energy would fully do away with power cuts, but she encouraged people “to navigate their way in the situation”.
“We have to navigate our way like everybody else navigates their way through these situations… People go to work during power cuts, businesses run during power cuts… They just read the schedule and plan around the power cuts,” the minister said.
Motshekga said as the education sector, they “need to soldier on and swim with the tide”.
“I can’t say as a sector we will be immune from the challenges that are there.”
South Africa is currently on load shedding stage 2.
The minister also highlighted that cheating during the exams degrades the integrity of the national examination system.
On Friday, CEO of Umalusi Dr Mafu Rakometsi, at a media briefing on the state of readiness for the exams at the Protea Hotel in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, said load shedding was a serious problem.
He said they are not in control of the load shedding situation, but they can only appeal to Eskom to improvise during the writing of the final exams.
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