Johannesburg – The first day of the National Senior Certificate examinations went off without a hitch on Monday, the department of basic education said.

“I am happy to announce that reports coming in from all provinces indicate a good start, free of incidents or irregularities,” department spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi said in a statement.

English home language and first additional language papers were written in the morning, and music theory paper one was written in the afternoon session.

Accounting, Zulu, Ndebele and Swati would be written on Tuesday.

A total of 576 490 full-time pupils and 130 646 part-time students had registered for the matric exams, Lesufi said.

– SAPA