Pretoria - A top Pretoria high school has been accused of doctoring some of its pupils’ report cards to ensure they stand a better chance of getting places at university.
Parents at Pretoria High School for Girls claim teachers have asked Grade 12 candidates who achieved 79 percent for subjects last year to bring their report cards to school. The marks were then changed to 80 percent.
On Thursday, pupils whose marks had been changed were ordered to return the new report cards. Gauteng education spokesman Phumla Sekhonyane said: “The department is aware of this matter.
“We have established that the school worked on the old system of condoning one subject per learner from a 79 percent to 80 percent. With the advent of Caps (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement), this practice was phased out.”
The department has instructed the school to retract the additional mark and re-issue the original promotional mark that was generated at the end of last year.
A parent said: “Report cards are signed by the district office at the end of the year. Why does the school have to change some marks without the department’s knowledge?
“It is fraud and corruption. If the school wants to change marks, why do they not do it for all learners?
“Are they saying only a few children should benefit from this system?”
Sekhonyane said parents would be informed of the issue.
But some pupils might have already sent out their new report cards to universities. Applications for acceptance at institutions like the University of Pretoria and the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) opened at the beginning of the month.
Last year, TUT received 90 000 applications for 13 874 places available for first years. The UP received 42 000 applications for 10 250 places.
The institutions use the Grade 11 report cards to calculate the admission point score (APS).
For the APS calculations, a 79 percent mark has a scoring point of 6, while 80 percent has a score of seven points.
According to the TUT, the APS system was developed to assist prospective students to check if they meet the minimum course entry requirements before they apply for a specific course.
Institutions use the APS score to conditionally accept prospective students into the programmes.
The Pretoria High School for Girls achieved a 100 percent matric pass rate last year.
It is one of the best performing schools in the province.
TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said prospective students were only provisionally accepted based on their Grade 11 results.
Unconditional acceptance was done with the final Grade 12 results and if they then met the minimum entry requirements, she said.
“In many instances there is not much of a difference between the Grade 11 and Grade 12 results of learners. If it comes to the university’s attention that a specific school has adjusted Grade 11 results, an investigation into the matter will be launched and it will be taken up with the school,” De Ruyter said.
Pretoria News