Cape Town - The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) intends to take legal action against the South African Nursing Council (SANC) for insisting that all students must rewrite their May exams.
The exams were annulled following allegations that the May paper was leaked, and SANC came up with new dates for when the exams will be rewritten.
SANC has also said the students must not contact it directly regarding the matter, but should rather contact the principals of the nursing education institutions.
Sizeni Mchunu, the acting registrar and chief executive of SANC, said investigations were continuing and the necessary action against those involved would be instituted as soon as investigations were completed.
“A security breach of this nature does not only affect individual candidates, but demolishes the credibility of the entire exam and the integrity of nursing education in general,” said Mchunu.
Denosa spokesperson Sbongiseni Dalihlazo said his organisation had taken legal action against SANC for the decision to have the exams rewritten.
“We have received calls and emails from parents who are frustrated because they have been with their children who mention how intense the preparations were and they know how committed their children were,” said Dalihlazo.
“The overwhelming feeling is that SANC chose to take an easy way out by annulling the exam and setting new dates while their own investigation is still under way, thereby punishing every student for something that the investigation may prove to have been done by only a few students, or perhaps not by students at all."
*Nomsa, a 42-year-old mother-of-two who is in her final year, said she did not make use of leaked papers but rather studied hard.
“How can we all be punished for something a few individuals did? I had to take annual leave for the preparation of my exams,” said the frustrated woman.
She added that students were only recently told about the new dates. She said she had no time to prepare for the exams, which will be written in about seven days' time.
Mbuso Mvula, who is a second-year nursing student, said he was very disappointed as he had made time to prepare for the exams.
Even when he was still waiting for his results, Mvula said he knew he had done well.
“It is very frustrating and it pains me that I have to rewrite with very little time on my side,” said Mvula.
Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Star she did not believe it was the students who leaked the papers but rather one of the officials, as they were the ones who had access to the exam papers.
“It’s demotivating to know that I have to write the exams again, when I had nothing to do with the leaked papers.
"I really had to study hard on my own,” the young woman said.
@Sabie_M