The 2025 matric examinations began smoothly across Gauteng on Monday, with no major disruptions reported, according to Education MEC Matome Chiloane.
Chiloane said all districts successfully commenced the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams as planned, with 16,968 candidates sitting for the Computer Applications Technology (CAT) Paper 1 practical at 9am.
“We are encouraged by the level of preparedness and commitment displayed across our examination centres on the first day of the NSC exams. Our teams acted swiftly where challenges arose, ensuring that every learner was able to write under fair and conducive conditions,” Chiloane said.
Only four examination centres recorded minor incidents, all of which were resolved before the start of the session.
At Letsibogo Maths, Science and ICT School of Specialisation in Meadowlands, Soweto, a power outage occurred but the school used a generator to keep the exams running. PJ Simelane Secondary School in Soweto also relied on a generator due to similar power challenges.
At Liberty Community School in Bramley, a short power delay caused a slight late start, but the centre switched to solar backup and all candidates completed their exams successfully.
In Dawn Park, 21 candidates from Falcon Educational Centre were relocated to a nearby exam centre after a technical server issue was detected before the session began.
The education department noted a few cases of absenteeism among both full-time and part-time candidates but said the numbers were minimal and did not affect the overall success of the day.
“We are satisfied that these minor incidents did not compromise the integrity of the examination. The department will continue to monitor all centres across Gauteng closely to ensure the smooth administration of this crucial assessment,” Chiloane added.
