‘Teacher faked marks’

29/07/2017. Matric pupils at Lotus Gardens Secondary School were awarded marks for the axam they did not write. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

29/07/2017. Matric pupils at Lotus Gardens Secondary School were awarded marks for the axam they did not write. Picture: Oupa Mokoena

Published Jul 30, 2016

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Pretoria - Education authorities in Gauteng have launched an urgent investigation following allegations that a teacher at Lotus Gardens Secondary School in Pretoria fraudulently awarded top marks for an oral exam.

The pupils did not sit for the exam, which should have been taken last term, but were awarded high marks, allegedly by the teacher.

The identity of the teacher has been withheld.

The results should have been submitted to the district office when schools reopened last week.

After the apparent fraud was detected, the matric class of 165 pupils were instructed to do the exam, but they refused.

A red flag had popped up during moderation when teachers in the Afrikaans department realised the results were much higher than usual. An investigation by the school found that the pupils had not sat for the exam at all.

On Monday, the pupils were told that they would do the exam, and they seemingly understood the situation. However, the next day they returned to school and staged a “sit-out”.

The pupils stayed out of class for the day and were toyi-toyiing in the school grounds. They were adamant they would not return to class if they were forced to sit for the exam.

District officials were contacted and asked to go to the school urgently to try and defuse the situation. The officials arrived at the school in no time and succeeded in calming down the angry pupils.

They told them that they effectively had no scores for the subject and encouraged them to return to class. The oral exams count towards the final assessment at the end of the year and are compulsory.

Last year’s matric class at the school achieved a 52 percent average in the subject; this was consistent with the trend set at the school in recent years which became the benchmark for what exam quality assurance body Umalusi expected.

However, the pupils scored a whopping 79 percent this year. In other instances, assessors wouldn't accept a differentiation of more than 10 percent from what the average was for the preceding year. The 27 percent jump up would have raised suspicion and got the school investigated had the results been submitted to Umlasi.

In fact, it would have led to a thorough investigation into every matric test done, as well as all papers marked and results generated by the school.

Ultimately, this would have led to a delay in the release of results, and pupils wouldn't have advanced into higher, or tertiary, education next year.

The officials stated that department only had to talk to the pupils to confirm the evident malpractice by the teacher.

The teacher in question had apparently been in trouble with the school before and was reported to the Labour Department in April.

Education officials pointed out if the teacher had been suspended at the time, the matric fiasco would not have happened and the results would not have been questionable and compromised.

The provincial Department of Education confirmed the anomaly in the exam process and profile of the results.

“The teacher submitted unmoderated marks which the facilitator found to be too high. When approached by the head of department and the facilitator, the teacher defended them and said the marks were deserved,” spokesman Oupa Bodibe said.

He said the decision was that the pupils would sit for their oral exam since the marks contributed to the final year mark.

Parents were being roped in and have been invited to a meeting to discuss the importance of the test on Monday.

“he department needs to take drastic steps in addressing this. This teacher should not be allowed to get away with murder,” he said.

Bodibe said the district office was investigating the matter.

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