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More than 688 000 learners will sit for the National Senior Certificate Exams from Monday.
The Department of Education says of this number, 550 127 are full-time candidates and nearly 140 000 are part-time learners.
The Department says it will, along with the provinces, strengthen its monitoring of the 2014 matric exams to ensure its integrity and credibility.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga will announce the outcome of the examinations on the 5th of January with the results being released the following day.