By OBAKENG MAJE
26 May 2025- The North West Department of Education MEC, Viola Motsumi, wishes all the best to the National Senior Certificate and Senior Certificate candidates who are currently writing their final examinations, which commenced on 12 May 2025, and will conclude on 25 June 2025.
Motsumi said this year, there are 22 014 candidates, a decrease from 27 010 in 2024.
She further said the examinations are being written in 73 Senior Certificate and 403 National Senior Certificate centres across the province. Motsumi added that the number of candidates has decreased by 4997 compared to last year.
“Printing, packing, packaging and storage of question papers has been 70% completed and stored securely. Distribution of the Question papers will be done daily at least two hours before the commencement of the examination.
“The May/June 2025 examination is prepared for those candidates who wish to improve their previous results. Second Chance Matric programme candidates and other previous Senior Certificate candidates, who are above the age of 21 and could not attain their matric,” she said.
Motsumi said marking guidelines will be released daily after the papers are written. She said the marking process will be conducted from 30 June to 10 July 2025, at the identified venues in the province under strict security protocol.
“Markers will be trained fully by the Chief Markers and Internal Moderators before marking could commence. External moderation will be conducted by both DBE and UMALUSI to quality assure the marking of the candidates’ scripts.
“We attribute the decrease in the number of candidates to the performance of last year. On behalf of the department, I wish all candidates the best of luck for their examinations,” said Motsumi.
She said they are pleased to see a significant decrease in the number of candidates, which they attribute to the high pass rate achieved by the Class of 2024. Motsumi said many learners performed exceptionally well, resulting in fewer candidates needing to rewrite.
“I encourage all registered candidates aiming to improve their results to use this opportunity to write their examinations. Unlike in previous years, where some candidates did not show up for their papers, I urge our candidates to commit to writing all their examination papers.
“This will ultimately enable them to pursue their dreams of furthering their studies at tertiary institutions and beyond. Candidates who wrote these examinations will receive their results from 8 August 2025, at the district offices for Senior Certificate and schools, where they were registered for National Senior Certificate,” she said.
Motsumi said candidates who have registered for the examination are encouraged to arrive on time for the examinations and avoid irregular conduct during examinations.
The Guardian 