By Lehlohonolo Lehana.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) confirmed that there was an "omission" of a figure in one of the questions carrying three marks in total in the physical science paper 2 that was written on Monday. 

Spokesperson for the department of basic education Elijah Mhlanga said the "omission" occurred in the formula of an organic compound where the subscript 3 was missing in one of the options in the question.  

"The questions that are directly affected by this omission are Question 2.2.1 (2 marks) and Question 2.3.3 (1 mark)."

Mhlanga said they will investigate the cause of the "omission" and conduct a full analysis of the impact of it on candidates' performance. 

He said a meeting of the examining panel and internal moderators and chief markers from the nine provincial education departments and a moderation team from Umalusi will take place from Monday to Wednesday next week. 

Umalusi spokesperson Biki Lepota said they were notified by the department of the error in the paper after the learners wrote it. 

"It is regrettable that despite the careful attention of the examiners and moderators, the error went undetected. Umalusi wishes to reassure learners that the post-exam writing quality assurance processes will be deployed to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged by the error."

Last year, a question carrying seven marks in maths paper 2 was found to be "faulty" and all candidates' papers were marked out of a total of 143 marks instead of 150. 

Mhlanga has also cautioned the public of fake social media posts that suggest that some matric examination question papers have been leaked. 

"The department wishes to reassure the National Senior Certificate candidates, their parents and guardians and members of the public that there have been no examination paper leaks nor an announcement about any rewrite of any papers whatsoever," added Mhlanga.

He said, the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga has made no such announcement about any incident related to examinations, adding that the social media posts are a pure fabrication and malicious.

The department thanked those involved in the examinations and further urged learners to continue to apply their minds with diligence to this all-important examination and not to be distracted.