Quality assurance body, Umalusi, has expressed full confidence that the country's examination system is ready for the conduct, administration and management of the 2025 end of year national examinations.
Briefing the media on the state of readiness in Pretoria on Wednesday, Umalusi Chief Executive Officer, Dr Mafu Rakometsi, said that while an audit had identified some areas of concern, these were not systemic and would not compromise the credibility of the examinations.
"The report presented by Dr Dliwayo makes it clear that, by and large, the system is ready for the conduct, administration and management of the 2025 end of year national examinations. For that reason, I can report to the public that the system is ready," Rakometsi said.
According to Umalusi's audit report, a total of over one million candidates are registered to sit for various national examinations this year, including more than 900 000 learners writing the National Senior Certificate NSC exams under the Department of Basic Education DBE.
Of these, 766,543 are full-time candidates, while there are a further 137,018 part-time candidates who wrote in previous years and are seeking to improve their results, will also sit for the 2025 examinations.
In addition, 17,427 learners will write the NSC under the Independent Examinations Board IEB, while 6,174 candidates are registered through the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute SACAI.
The examinations will be conducted across more than 9 400 examination centres nationwide, covering both public and private assessment bodies.
Presenting the detailed audit report, Umalusi Senior Manager Dr Mary-Antoinette Dliwayo, said the quality assurance body had completed a comprehensive evaluation of all assessment bodies, including the DBE, the Department of Higher Education and Training DHET, the IEB and the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute SACAI.
Dr Dliwayo said the audit focused on key areas, such as candidate registration, security of examination materials, readiness of marking centres, and systems for managing irregularities.
"Based on the evaluation, Umalusi is satisfied that all candidates have been registered in accordance with examination regulations, that question papers have been externally moderated, and that adequate security measures are in place for the printing, packaging and distribution of question papers," she said.
She added that Umalusi is also confident that all markers will be adequately trained before the commencement of marking, which will begin on 15 November and end on 18 December 2025.