Statement by Brian Schreuder, Deputy Director-General, Education Planning and Development, Western Cape Education Department

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is on track for releasing the 2005 Senior Certificate results to candidates at 12 noon on Thursday, 29 December.

The WCED’s Education Management and Development Centres (EMDCs) in each district will make printouts of the results available to the principals of high schools on Thursday morning.

This will enable the principals to look through the results before making them available to candidates at 12 noon at each school.

Premier Ebrahim Rasool will host a reception at Leeuwenhof, his official residence, at 09h00 where Cameron Dugmore, the MEC for Education, will officially release the provincial results.

The WCED will announce the names of the top candidates on the department’s Merit List for 2005, and candidates who will receive awards for meritorious academic achievement.

The department will also announce the names of schools that have performed well in the 2005 Senior Certificate examinations, in a number of categories.

The national Minister of Education will release the national results on Thursday at 12 noon.

The media will publish the results at 06h00 on Friday, 30 December.  Candidates will be able to look for their results from this time on the WCED web site at http://wced.wcape.gov.za, or via Cape Gateway on http://www.capegateway.gov.za.

The WCED Examinations Helpline is also available on (021) 467-2300 for queries about results.

Candidates will have to provide their examination and identification numbers to obtain their results on the web site or from the Examinations Helpline.

The WCED prefers candidates to visit their schools at 12 noon on Thursday, 29 December, to obtain their results. School staff will be on hand to discuss the results with any candidate who may be disappointed by the results.

The WCED will make sure that trained counselors are also available should any candidate need counseling on their results. The counselors are based at EMDC offices.

The department is well aware that while most candidates will be very excited at receiving their results, others may be disappointed if they do not get the results their are hoping for.

These candidates do not have to feel disheartened. They can apply to write supplementary examinations in February and March. The closing date for applications to write supplementary examinations is 18 January 2006.

If school principals do not collect results on Thursday, the EMDCs will post these results to schools on Thursday, 5 January 2006.

The published results will also include the following symbols: E - Endorsement; M - Endorsement (Merit); D - Endorsement (Distinction); S - Senior Certificate; N - Senior Certificate (Merit); P - Senior Certificate (Distinction). The results will also indicate subjects in which candidates obtained distinctions (A symbols).

Candidates who achieve aggregates of 1680 or more will pass with Distinction. Those with aggregates of between 1260 and 1679 will pass with Merit.

For further information, contact
  Brian Schreuder 082-373-5989;
  Gert Witbooi 082-550-3938.