Johannesburg - An adult matric cheating scam in KwaZulu-Natal has forced exam quality watchdog Umalusi to declare invalid the results of 153 centres where answer scripts were written and collected. People who sat the adult matric exams at these centres will have to rewrite.
Also referred to as the old matric, the Senior Certificate exam is not written by full-time pupils, and is based on the old curriculum.
Investigations by Umalusi and the Basic Education Department uncovered “gross irregularities” at 153 of the 356 centres in the province.
They found that invigilators had colluded with the cheaters in subjects including physics, accounting, maths and history during the adult matric exams in May, which were written by more than 46 000 candidates.
The adult matric results of the other eight provinces were released in August, while KZN’s were held back until the investigation was concluded.
The cheating was uncovered at centres in all 12 education districts in KZN: Amajuba (Newcastle), Ilembe (Ballito), Pinetown, Sisonke (southern KZN), Ugu (Port Shepstone), Umgungundlovu (Pietermaritzburg), Umkhanyakude (Jozini), Umlazi (greater Durban), Umzinyathi (Dundee), Uthukela (Ladysmith), Uthungulu (Richards Bay) and Zululand (Ulundi).
Investigators found crib notes; that the answer scripts submitted by a single person displayed different handwriting in different subjects; and two sets of answer scripts for the same subject bearing the same exam number but answered in different handwriting. The department refers to this as “ghost writing”.
The registered candidate writes the paper in the exam room but, at the same time, a second individual, hired by the registered candidate, also produces an answer script. The answer script of the hired writer replaces that of the registered candidate. However, the invigilator - who is in on the scam - submits both scripts for marking.
The KZN Education Department plans to deregister all adult matric exam centres, and will be replacing invigilators who are not permanent with district and school officials.
The Mercury