The closure of schools for the Spring Break offered provinces an ideal opportunity to support learners with revision and consolidation activities (last push) through “Spring Classes,” before the commencement of the 2017 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations. The Director-General of Basic Education, Mr Mthanzima Mweli, who is well known for “leading from the front”, began his visits to several of these classes across the nine provinces. The purpose of the visits are to motivate learners to take advantage of the classes and buckle down to some serious studying so as to improve the quality of passes in the 2017 NSC examinations.

In responding to questions relating to the role and impact of these “Spring Classes”, the Director-General said that, “The Spring Classes are being institutionalised in provinces as one of two major consolidation of learning activities on the school calendar. While the organisation of the classes in each province may differ in the packaging of programmes, duration, number of subjects targeted etc. they are essentially similar in outcomes. All of the provinces, are preparing learners towards improved examination results”.

In encouraging learners to stay focused on their studies, Mr Mweli said that thorough preparation for the examination will decrease anxiety and raise confidence levels. It is important that learners remain calm, collected and this will only be possible if they leave no stone unturned in their quest for understanding concepts and content and knowing how to apply them in all subjects.

Some learners took the opportunity to confirm the value of the classes, citing that the classes provided them with space that is conducive to studying and that this augurs well for improved performance in the examinations.