Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has declared South Africa’s Class of 2026 ready for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, with nearly 963,000 full-time and part-time candidates registered for the October-November sitting.
Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Sunday, Gwarube outlined the department’s preparations, learner support initiatives and security measures.
“All candidates have been provided with all the support they would need to perform, and I am happy to declare that learners are ready for the 2026 NSC exams,” she said.
The declaration comes as quality assurance body Umalusi has also confirmed that the year-end national examinations are ready to proceed, although concerns remain over marker shortages and potential disruptions linked to the upcoming local government elections.
According to Gwarube, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has registered 815,051 full-time candidates, an increase of 48,508 from 2025.
A further 147,781 part-time candidates have registered, bringing the department’s total NSC registration to 962,832 candidates.
“The Class of 2026 is the largest full-time cohort to sit the National Senior Certificate examinations to date,” she said.
The department has established approximately 7,100 examination centres and 189 marking centres, recruiting 51,104 educators to mark examination scripts.
Gwarube said all examination papers had been set, moderated and quality-assured by the DBE and approved by Umalusi.
Security measures had also been strengthened through the vetting of examination officials and collaboration with law enforcement agencies.
Gwarube criticised the education system’s emphasis on the matric pass rate, arguing that it had created incentives for practices that undermined meaningful educational outcomes.
She said some schools and districts had kept learners back in Grade 11 or prevented weaker-performing learners from progressing to Grade 12 to improve their potential pass rates.
Others had encouraged learners to choose Mathematical Literacy instead of Mathematics to maximise pass numbers, she said.
“This obsession with the matric pass rate and its perverse incentives has been to the detriment of this country’s ability to produce skills in STEM professions, in Accounting and Economic Sciences,” she said.
Provincial performance would be assessed using broader indicators, including bachelor’s passes, distinctions, learner retention and performance in gateway subjects such as Mathematics, Physical Sciences, Accounting and Economics.
Gwarube acknowledged that the Class of 2026 experienced significant disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said the department had responded by strengthening curriculum coverage, identifying learning gaps and providing additional revision opportunities.
The 2026 Learner Support Programme reached 159,180 learners across 1,262 centres in all 75 education districts.
Learners also received revision guides, previous examination papers, online resources and opportunities to practise under examination conditions through mock exams.
The Second Chance Matric Programme continues to assist part-time candidates through after-hours and weekend classes at 41 centres.
Umalusi CEO Dr Mafu Rakometsi confirmed the readiness of the national examinations following an audit of public and private examination bodies.
However, the audit identified shortages of markers for Afrikaans Home Language, English Home Language and History.
The department has introduced measures to address the gaps, including starting marking earlier and conducting it in phases.
The NSC written examinations are scheduled to run from October 13 to November 26.
Rakometsi raised concerns about the local government elections scheduled for November 4, which fall during the examination period.
Although the timetable had been amended to accommodate the elections, political activities, community protests and the use of schools as voting stations could still pose challenges.
Gwarube called on communities not to disrupt examinations to express dissatisfaction over service delivery, political issues or socioeconomic conditions.
“The NSC candidates cannot resolve societal problems. It is ministers, as elected representatives, who must account,” she said.
She called on teachers, examination officials, parents and communities to work together to ensure the examinations proceeded without incident.