Matric cheats can rewrite exams

Published Feb 9, 2015

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Johannesburg - Matriculants implicated in the group copying scandal in the Eastern Cape in 2014 may apply to sit supplementary exams, the provincial education department said on Monday.

Education Minister Angie Motshekga has approved a special concession for them in their schools or districts, said spokesman Mali Mtima.

They could write supplementary exams in the subjects which they were accused of copying.

“This approval for them to register is granted on the basis that these candidates were assisted by the chief invigilator, invigilator, or subject teachers, and therefore did not act on their own and therefore did not act on their own accord,” said Mtima.

“However, in cases where candidates initiated the copying, this special concession will not apply,” he said.

In December, monitoring body Umalusi said group copying was found at 19 Eastern Cape exam centres and 39 in KwaZulu-Natal.

When asked how the irregularities were discovered, Umalusi CEO Mafu Rakometsi said pupils provided the same answers.

“These problems were detected at the marking centres... The students are providing the same answers, the same right answers, the same wrong answers,” Rakometsi said at the time.

“It is clear that there is sharing of notes. It is clear that there is dictation.”

Giving an example, he said whoever gave the dictation to pupils said “go ahead” and the pupils wrote “go ahead” on their answer sheets.

Sapa

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