Matric exam papers affected by storm at Free state marking centre accounted for, says education dept

The national Department of Education is breathing a sigh of relief after an exam script that went missing after a storm damaged a marking centre in the Free State was found.

On Wednesday, a storm blew the roof off of the Albert Moroka High School marking centre in Thaba-Nchu, where 24 519 scripts for Accounting P2 and Business Studies P2 were being processed.

In a statement after the storm, the department said two scripts were in the process of being properly identified as parts were damaged, while one Business Studies P2 script could not be accounted for. 

On Monday, it added the script had since been found and all others from the marking centre were accounted for. 

"If it were not for the sacrifice and quick thinking by the markers and staff, the damage could have been worse.

"They worked hard to save the scripts and proceeded to work around the clock to locate the scripts which were initially reported to be missing in the chaos that happened during the storm," said Dr Rufus Poliah, the department's chief director for public examinations and national assessments.

The department said it was on schedule to finish marking on 22 December as planned.

Matric results are expected early next year.