Cape Town - The Western Cape ANC has condemned the provincial government’s decision to announce the Western Cape’s matric results a few hours after the rest of the country’s matriculants receive the results of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams.
The results were due to be announced on Monday by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, and schools and candidates will receive their results on Tuesday.
The provincial education spokesperson, Jessica Shelver, said many parents and pupils had questioned why the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) was sending out results later.
“This is done for a number of reasons which include the fact that principals examine the results to pick up any errors, and to alert the WCED regarding a candidate that may be disappointed by their results and need counselling.”
But Theo Olivier, ANC MPL and the party’s spokesman on education, said this was nonsense. “It is not acceptable that the province doesn’t follow suit and keeps kids in suspense.”
He said the provincial department had had enough time to smooth out any errors.
“The province is keeping our pupils in the dark. It is not fair because they waited for this moment all their lives.”
Olivier said the province could use the time after Motshekga’s announcement on Monday to consult principals on errors. “The fact that pupils have to wait longer will likely cause them to need more counselling,” he said.
Education MEC Debbie Schafer said:
“The provincial government can operate independently on issues other than the curriculum. This system has worked extremely well and it was in fact the then ANC MEC who implemented this system in 2009.”
Reports have emerged of cheating across the country in final exams.
The Western Cape was found to have one case.
“With regards to the single case of cheating in the Western Cape, this was at an independent school exam centre. There is an investigation under way and the pupils’ results will be blocked pending an investigation,” Shelver said. If they had cheated, guilty pupils would not be able to write for three years.
Cape Times