EDUCATION MINISTER TO RELEASE JC, EPC RESULTS TODAY

MBABANE – Candidates of the 2022 external examinations will know their fate today.

The Minister of Education and Training, Lady Mabuza, will be announcing the release of the results this afternoon during a press conference that will be held at the ministry. These would be results of Form III learners, who sat their Junior Certificate (JC) and Eswatini Primary Certificate (EPC), written by Grade VII pupils in 2022. Yesterday, the Ministry of Education  invited the media to a press conference scheduled for this afternoon, with the minister and the Eswatini Examinations Council (ECESWA).

Delivering

“You are cordially invited to a press conference where the minister will be delivering Grade VII and JC results, tomorrow Wednesday, at the Ministry of Education, 6th floor, at 3pm,” reads the invitation. ECESWA Communications Officer Hlengiwe Ndlovu said they could neither confirm nor deny that they would be releasing the results. Form IIIs wrote their first paper was on November 28, 2022, while Grade VIIs sat their first paper on December 5, 2022.  The last examination paper was written on December 19, 2022 by Form III pupils. After the release of the results, learners would be expected to fetch their results transcripts also known as symbols.

The transcripts are crucial to be used by learners when securing admission for the next grade, particularly Grade VIIs who would be looking for Form I spaces. Worth noting is that education stakeholders raised concerns about the dates of the release. Eswatini Schools Committees and Parents Association Secretary General (SG) Cyprian Dlamini said they were hoping that schools opening would be postponed. Schools opening is scheduled for next Tuesday. Of which the SG said would not give parents enough time to prepare for schools opening. He stated that normally, results were released on the first week of January, which enabled parents to have a week to prepare. The SG said postponing the opening might be a good move.

Meanwhile, the President of Eswatini Principals Association (EPA), Welcome Mhlanga, in our Monday publication, said it was best to wait for the release of the results, first before calling for a postponement. He highlighted, however, that after the release of the results the next two days would see learners fetching their results transcripts. He noted that if the results were released late this week they might need to engage the Ministry of Education and Training regarding the opening of schools. This was before the Minister of Education, Lady Mabuza, announced that government was considering postponing the opening of schools.

To ensure that the results of these learners are not delayed as some of them will need to secure spaces in new schools, marking of these examination scripts commenced while the learners were writing other papers. The marking of the examination scripts started while the examinations for other grades were ongoing. The external examinations were written by completing pupils, which included Form Vs, Form IIIs and Grade VIIs. The 2022 academic year had only two terms, not the normal three terms. The last time the country had a normal school calendar was in 2019. This was due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Last week, the marking of Form V scripts commenced. Ndlovu said they deliberately began marking the EPC and JC examination papers early because these pupils had to receive their results before the opening of schools for the 2023 academic year. “The marking of Form V examinations commences this week,” she had said. Pupils who were enrolled for the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) wrote their first paper on October 4, 2022, while those under the Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) started their examination on November 14, 2022.

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