Umalusi has given approval for the writing of the 2025 end-of-year matric examinations, confirming that all systems are ready for the commencement of the exams.
The education quality assurance council announced on Wednesday that it had completed its task of monitoring and verifying the readiness of both public and private assessment bodies responsible for managing and conducting the exams.
The assessment bodies include the Department of Basic Education (DBE), the Independent Examinations Board (IEB), and the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (SACAI).
More than one million candidates across the three assessment bodies are registered to write the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations this year.
As part of its quality assurance mandate, Umalusi assessed the readiness of the assessment bodies using a framework that focused on key areas such as:
Management of examinations
Registration of candidates
Registration of examination centres
Printing, packaging and distribution of question papers
The council confirmed that all assessment bodies have successfully completed the registration of candidates.
According to Umalusi, the DBE has 903,561 full-time and part-time candidates registered, the IEB has 17,896, while SACAI has 6,405 candidates.
Umalusi senior manager Dr Mary-Antoinette Dliwayo said the council was satisfied with the overall readiness for the exams.
“Umalusi is satisfied that all candidates have been registered for the 2025 end-of-year examinations in accordance with the relevant assessments and examinations regulations,” she said.
Dliwayo added that more than one million candidates will sit for the examinations at about 9,400 centres spread across the four assessment bodies.
For the NSC exams, the DBE has established 6,955 examination centres, the IEB has 263, and SACAI has 83 centres.
The 2025 matric examinations are scheduled to begin on October 21.
