Durban - Getting your hands on national examination papers is as easy as 1, 2, 3.
Last week the Sunday Tribune discovered that agents for leaked exam papers were plying their trade all over Durban. The city’s FET colleges have been implicated in the scam after papers for an N3 and N5 engineering course were sold to students.
Informants said students at a number of the colleges buy the leaked papers from middlemen both on and off campus.
“Papers can be obtained the day or night before exams at pre-arranged spots, including The Workshop, parts of Umlazi, Springfield, Berea, Overport and Stanger,” said one source.
He said papers were e-mailed to buyers if the middleman could only obtain them at the 11th hour. Prices ranged from R200 to R250 per paper.
Directors at FET colleges described the leaks as “a huge challenge to governance and ethics”.
Thekwini College director Rahimodeen Cadir said he was aware of incidents at his institution but said the college depended on the Department of Higher Education and Training to handle examination logistics.
“Internally there is no opportunity for test papers to be leaked because we take precautions.”
Department of Higher Education and Training director general Qweds Qonde said strict security measures were in place to curb the problem.
“A paper can leak at one exam centre and be distributed to the whole country within an hour. It is difficult to establish the links but we are working on it.”
Sunday Tribune