Durban - The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Friday said that an announcement earlier on in the day that the 2018 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam results had again been adjusted upwards raised serious questions about the management of the exams.
The party's shadow minister of basic education, Nomsa Marchesi, was responding to Umalusi's announcement that NSC results were credible, which the quality assurance body had made on Friday in Pretoria.
"Of the 67 subjects considered for the Department of Basic Education (DBE) matric exams, 17 had their marks adjusted upwards – one more than last year. This means a quarter of all DBE subjects still have their marks adjusted upwards. This continuing trend raises some serious questions," said Marchesi.
"Unfortunately, we have no idea how large these adjustments are. Umalusi hides this information from the public, and refuses to allow elected members of parliament to attend the standardisation meeting. Anyone who questions these adjustments is accused of attempting to disrupt the process and attack the school system, simply for asking for clarity," said Marchesi.
She said that protecting the quality of the matric certificate was vital to ensuring that young South Africans could study further or secure a job after school. "The DA will continue to seek greater transparency so that learners and their parents can feel secure in their matric qualification."
The NSC results are set to be released next week.