The piloting of a new matric certificate for adults and out-of-school youth who did not complete grade 12 has been stymied because of a lack of funding.

Thembisa Futshane, deputy director-general for the CET branch in the department of higher education, said projected funding of R287.3m was needed to implement the National Senior Certificate for Adults (Nasca) for about 10,000 students at 54 pilot community learning centres.

The money is required to fund learning and teaching support materials, employ additional lecturers and support implementation of the qualification. The enrolment of the first cohort of students was to have started this month and the date for the first exams was scheduled for June next year...