The school careers of 55 162 Western Cape learners will culminate on Monday, 15 October, when they start writing the 2001 Senior Certificate examinations.

For more than a month, till 20 November, the candidates will write 168 papers at 550 examination centres across the province, monitored by an army of 2 500 invigilators.

The candidates will start with languages on 15 October, followed by a wide variety of subjects in the first week, ranging from typing and computyping, to criminology, home economics, music and accounting.

For the first time, all candidates across the nine provinces will write common examination papers, in five subjects: English Second Language, Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting and Biology.

Mr Brian Schreuder, the WCED's Deputy-Directorate-General: Education Planning and Development, said on 8 October that all examination papers had been printed, parceled and checked prior to dispatch to the examination centres.

For the first time, the department has barcoded every envelope and box containing examination papers, to track distribution.

The WCED is also introducing a new system of barcoding examination scripts. It will be used to track individual scripts through the system.

"Circuit Managers and chief invigilators will check every parcel at every examination centre to ensure that they have not been tampered with. The envelopes of examination papers may only be opened in the examination room," Mr Schreuder added.

The WCED completed training for invigilators during the week of 8 October. From this year, candidates will be allowed 10 extra minutes to read the papers before they start writing, in line with national policy on Senior Certificate examinations.

Mr Schreuder said that all principals had been issued with a set of contingency procedures in case the examinations are disrupted in any way. The stringent guidelines meet the requirements of the South African Certification Council.

All examination centres have been informed of procedures, which include what to do in the event of power failures, which could affect typewriters and computers, and how to supervise candidates should any disruptions occur.

About 2 000 markers will mark about one million scripts over a nine-day period, from 1 to 9 December. The target date for the release of the results is 27 December.

Meanwhile, the provincial and national departments of education and the South African Certification Council have agreed to new categories of achievement that will be recognised for the first time this year.

In addition to identifying the top achievers for each school in the press, the following categories of achievement will be recognised:

• Pass with Distinction: this will be awarded to candidates who obtain an aggregate of 1680 and above;
• Pass with Merit: this will be awarded to candidates who obtain an aggregate of 1260 and above, and below 1680.