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Green light for release of NSC matric results

Umalusi‚ the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training‚ has approved the release of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results for 2016 candidates‚ with the exception of those implicated in a paper leak and group copying.

Council chairperson Professor John Volmink made this announcement in Pretoria on Thursday‚ ahead of the expected release of results by the Department of Basic Education on January 4.

Dealing with irregularities in the department’s administration of the November examinations‚ in the form of a leaked question paper at two schools in Limpopo‚ which spilled over into Gauteng‚ Volmink said Umalusi was satisfied that the leak was restricted to about 100 learners and did not call for a rewrite of Mathematics paper 2.

Calling all matrics: claim your fame and you could win R6,000

Umalusi recommended that the results of these learners be withheld‚ pending the outcome of an investigation into the incident.

While Volmink commended the national education department for its swift investigation‚ he criticised the provincial education department for failing to prevent the leak.

“The Limpopo education department’s non-adherence to security measures must be addressed‚” he said.

Other learners whose results have not been approved for release are those implicated in group copying in KwaZulu-Natal‚ Gauteng and Mpumalanga. Investigations into these cases also continue.

The Department of Basic Education submitted 58 NSC examination subjects for standardisation by Umalusi. Of these‚ the marks of 26 subjects were left raw and were not adjusted. These include results for Physical Science and History.

The results for 28 subjects were adjusted upward towards the average historical learner performance‚ while the results for four subjects were shifted downwards.

Accounting is one of the four subjects adjusted downwards.

Said Volmink: “It is pleasing to see that the marks of subjects such as Physical Science and History could be left as unadjusted and that there was a marked improvement in subjects such as Accounting.

“However‚ subjects such as Geography‚ showed a marked drop in learner performance while other subjects such Life Sciences‚ Business Studies and Economics and several home languages‚ have not shown the progress that was hoped for.”

Volmink singled out Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy as disappointing.

“One subject where the performance is completely flat is Mathematics... In fact what is alarming is that that since 2014 Mathematical Literacy has joined Mathematics as a learning area where the learner performance is critically low.”

He said Mathematical Literacy‚ “is no longer the soft option it used to be“.

The results for NSC examinations administered by the Independent Examinations Board and the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute have also been approved for release.

According to Umalusi’s Dr Mafu Rakometsi there are over 40 000 more progressed learners in 2016‚ compared with last year. The number of progressed learners in 2016‚ 109 400‚ make up 13.4% of the class’s total enrollment.

The policy of progression‚ implemented in 2013‚ prevent learners from remaining in the same education phase for more than four years. In six of the 58 NSC subjects there were no progressed learners. — TMG Digital

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