Cape Town - The Department of Basic Education needs to explain how it plans to address the perception that success can be achieved by cheating in exams, the DA says.
Annette Lovemore, the DA’s spokeswoman on basic education, was referring to the group cheating “fiasco” in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, which has resulted in the results of matrics at 58 exams centres in the two provinces being withheld.
On Tuesday quality assurance body Umalusi announced that there had been evidence of “group copying” at the centres and expressed its concern about the trend.
Lovemore said clarity was needed on several issues including what action would be taken against the supervisors who apparently dictated answers to pupils and against those who prepared the answers.
“The fact that the ethically challenged officials involved believed that they might get away with what they were doing is of great concern.”
Elijah Mhlanga, spokesman for the Department of Basic Education, said Umalusi and the department had indicated that they would take action against those involved in cheating including criminal charges against the supervisors involved.
Candidates who make themselves guilty of cheating could have their results declared null and void and could be banned from writing the National Senior Certificate exams for up to three years.
Meanwhile, in a statement yesterday, Education MEC Debbie Schäfer said the quality of matric marking had to be prioritised.
She said the Western Cape remained the only province to conduct competency testing for markers in a bid to ensure that it appointed markers “who demonstrate that they know how to mark and the content of the subject they are marking”.
“I find it difficult to understand exactly what is unjust about ensuring that the people who mark our matric papers are able to do the work themselves at a suitable standard, and mark accordingly.
“If they are able to do so, it will be no problem for them to pass the competency tests. If they are not, is it just that they adjudicate on the competence of our children?”
Cape Argus