By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The council for quality assurance in education,Umalusi, has given the green light for the release of the 2021 matric results.
“Having studied all the evidence presented, the executive committee of the Umalusi Council, noted that apart from some examination irregularities identified during the writing and marking of the examinations, there were no systemic irregularities reported that compromised the credibility and integrity of the November 2021 NSC examinations as a whole,” said Umalusi Council chairperson, Professor Jimmy Volmink.
Volmink made the announcement on Tuesday during a media briefing in Pretoria on the council’s approval of the results for the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.
Matric results for public schools will officially be released on Friday, with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga expected to announce the national results for the class of 2021 during a televised address on Thursday evening.
The five-week-long NSC examinations, which began on 27 October 2021, were written by a total of 897,786 registered candidates, comprising 735,677 full-time candidates and 162,109 part-time candidates.
Volmink said the education quality assurance body was satisfied that the NSC exams were administered largely in accordance with the examination policies and regulations.
However, he said they were concerned about incidents of unauthorised and early access to exam papers detected at specific examination centres in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Volmink condemned this, saying incidents of “examination malpractice” specifically affected subjects of life sciences and agricultural sciences.
“It’s also worrying when people who are trusted with the responsibility of administering and managing the examinations are the very ones who compromise the integrity of the examinations under a misguided pretext of wanting to, quote: ‘help learners’,” Volmink said.
He added that the DBE was required by law to block the results of candidates who were implicated in exam irregularities, including those of candidates who were involved in group copying pending the outcome of investigations and verification by Umalusi.
Umalusi CEO Dr Mafu Rakometsi said there were some few irregularities reported in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
“Umalusi notes incidents of unauthorised and early access to question papers detected at some of the examination centres in KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng.
“Specifically, Life Sciences and Agricultural Sciences papers were the affected subjects in those centres. This practice can potentially compromise the integrity of examinations if it is not addressed decisively.”
He warned that steps will be taken against those who leak exam materials.
“Umalusi appeals to all stakeholders involved in the examination process to refrain from engaging in such unscrupulous acts of dishonesty. In the meantime, the results of implicated learners will be blocked, pending further investigations by the Department of Basic Education and verification by Umalusi.
He added that despite the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which continued to be a significant factor during the 2021 academic year, Umalusi is entrusted with a critical task of assuring the quality of the entire value chain of the national examination process.
“Regardless of the challenges presented by COVID-19, Umalusi’s quality assurance process focused on the following aspects of its mandate: the external moderation of question papers for all subjects/learning areas/instructional offerings across all qualifications and assessment bodies, verification of a sample of site-based assessment (SBA) marks, monitoring of the assessment bodies’ state of readiness to conduct and manage the 2021 national examinations, monitoring the conduct of examinations, monitoring and verification of marking as well as the standardisation and approval of results,” he said.
The CEO said that Umalusi has taken note of the evidence-based reports on interventions and improvement strategies implemented by all assessment bodies, including the Department of Basic Education and the positive impact of these on the overall assessment system as well as on teaching and learning.
Livestream Video Below:
Video Courtesy of Umalusi.