Johannesburg - A former Highlands North Boys’ High pupil has not been able to study further or find a job because of an administrative mishap.
The situation has resulted in his statement of Grade 12 results being incomplete.
Peter Moloto, 20, said that during the first term of his final year last year, the school had asked all Grade 12 pupils to submit a list of their subjects.
The school then returned the lists to the pupils, asked them to double-check their subjects, sign the form and return it.
Moloto said he had done this without realising that instead of Afrikaans first additional language, the second list had Afrikaans second additional language as one of his subjects. The school picked up the mistake long before the final exams, and Moloto was able to write the correct exam.
Before each of the three Afrikaans exams, he had to sign a form and his exam scripts were handed in separately to the other pupils.
It was only when the matric results were released - and his name did not appear in the newspaper - that he realised something had gone wrong.
He went to the school to enquire and was told that his statement was incomplete because his Afrikaans marks weren’t recorded.
The school couldn’t tell him what the problem was and why his marks were outstanding despite the fact that he had written the correct exam.
“I don’t know whether my exam scripts were marked or if they’re just lying in an office somewhere,” he said.
Moloto said he and his mother had since been communicating with the school and the district office to try to sort out the problem, but they are not getting any clarity on what happened.
“When we call the school, they tell us they’re still waiting for the district and that they’ll call us back, but they never call,” he said.
Moloto said that the last time he went to the school, which was on Monday, the school turned the tables on him and said he was the one who had signed off the list with the wrong subject.
“Now they’re blaming me for this whole thing, but when I ask them to give me the first list of my subjects that I wrote and handed in, they refuse.
“The mistake was picked up long before the final exams, and I was told they’d fix it. A week before exams, I was given forms to sign, and I also signed forms before writing all three question papers.
“If this whole thing is my fault, then why didn’t they make me write the second additional exam, and why did they make me sign all those papers?”
Moloto said because of this, he has not been able to study further, and when he tries to apply for jobs, he is always asked to provide a matric certificate.
“My life has come to a standstill. I can’t do anything,” he said.
Gauteng Department of Education spokesman Charles Phahlane said an investigation into the matter had been completed and Moloto should get his results by end of the week.
The Star