Umalusi clears matric results despite some irregularities

Education quality assurer Umalusi has given the matric results of 2022 the thumbs up despite irregularities that were reported during the writing of the exams.

On Monday Umalusi CEO Dr Mafu Rakometsi said there were no leaks of question papers during the exams written last year

Ramoketsi said pupils used technology such as WhatsApp to share answers for questions and, in some cases, invigilators helped pupils to answer papers.

“It is worrisome that invigilators that are supposed to be officials of the department assist learners. Learners sign pledges that they are not going to be involved in any cheating, we would want to extend that to the invigilators to prick their conscience.

“It is getting worse. People are desperate…That is why we have appealed to all assessment bodies to introduce measures to curb these practices. We also commend the assessment bodies for identifying the irregularities themselves,” Rakometsi said.

He said there were still unresolved cases where pupils were suspected to have had assistance in answering questions. In this category, the Eastern Cape had two cases involving four pupils, KwaZulu-Natal had four involving 400 pupils, and North West two involving two pupils.

In group copying, Mpumalanga had 58 cases which involved 1,289 pupils. This incident was widely reported last year during exams. In this case pupils used WhatsApp messages to discuss the exam paper while it was being written. Eastern Cape had five cases of group copying which are still being investigated involving 52 pupils. Free State had one case involving 14 pupils while Gauteng had two cases that involved six pupils.

There were also cases where an answer sheet contained two different handwritings.

Where irregularities were identified, the results of those implicated pupils were blocked until investigations are concluded.

In total more than 1.2m people sat to write the exams which were administered by the department of basic education, department of higher education and training, Independent Examinations Board (IEB) and the SA Comprehensive Assessment Institute (Sacai).

Chairperson Prof Yunus Ballim said the council approved the results despite irregularities.

“Having studied all the evidence presented, the executive committee of Umalusi council concluded that the examinations were administered largely in accordance with the regulations to the conduct, administration and management of the National Senior Certificate examination.

“The irregularities identified during the writing and marking of the examination were not systemic and therefore did not compromise the overall credibility and integrity of the exams administered by the department of basic education,’ said Ballim.

• dlaminip@sowetan.co.za