Department of Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga. File Picture: Bongani Shilunane/African News Agency (ANA)
Johannesburg – Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has vowed to go ahead and implement the decision to compel learners to rewrite two of their matric examinations due to the leaking of question papers despite the legal action being put up to oppose it.
The SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) was to head to court in a bid to block the department from forcing all learners back to the exam room.
Motshekga announced on Friday learners would be made to rewrite Mathematics Paper 2 on December 15 and Physical Sciences Paper 2 on December 17, while investigations over the leaking of the papers were still under way.
Sadtu has department and quality assurer Umalusi pushing ahead with the exam rewrite despite opposition by stakeholders, including the majority of teacher unions.
Motshekga’s spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the department was going ahead with the rewrite despite the opposition by teacher unions and the student body Cosas, who have called for the boycott of the exams.
“First it is their prerogative to seek any relief they believe is necessary. Second, the department will wait for the matter to get to court upon which it will be defended.
“Until the court papers are received it remains unclear what case they intend to make in the court,” Mhlanga said.
He insisted the department had no choice but to subject all learners who have sat for the subjects to a rewrite, as the department had no way of knowing who had access to the leaked question papers.
Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said the decision to force all learners to repeat the papers was premature as the investigation was still under way to assess the number of learners who could have seen the papers, with an initial estimation of learners who had been exposed to the leaked papers being less than 200 out of the total 390 000.
“The decision by Umalusi that the papers and exams are already compromised is a political statement and not a statement of fact.
“At marking centres, the hard evidence shall be gathered on who had access and to what extent and such learners shall be subjected to investigation and those who performed without accessing the papers will not be judged by a general statement,” Maluleke said.
Maluleke said Motshekga’s decision was irrational and had left teachers and learners frustrated as preparing for the matric exams had been difficult under the Covid-19 conditions.
“It undermines the work of our teachers and learners who worked under difficult circumstances due to Covid-19. Learners are being punished for something that is not of their making as only a few saw the paper,” Maluleke said.
The National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA president Nkosiphendule Ntantala said while the union had not taken the decision to wage a legal battle over the saga, it also rejected the move to force all learners to rewrite the exam papers.
“We are totally opposed to the national rewrite. The department should look at those areas where learners have been found to have had access to the exam papers and not force all of them. We have not taken a decision on going to court, but we are not opposed to the move by Sadtu to take the department to court,” Ntantala said.
National Teachers’ Union’s Allen Thompson also said that the department needed to strengthen their matric exam security.
“They need to tell us what mechanisms they have to make sure there are no leakages anymore. We cannot always be dealing with an inefficient department that can’t secure the exam papers,” Thompson said.
Themba Daniel Shikwambana, who works for a printing company contracted to the department, was arrested last week in connection with the exam paper leaks. He is out on bail and expected in court next month.
Cosas has called on the department and Umalusi to shoulder the blame for the leaking of question papers instead of punishing learners.
The Star
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