Exam Leaks: There Is No Basis For A National Rewrite

No Basis For A National Rewrite.” COSAS Called On Pupils Not To Sit For The Rewrite Saying There Was No Evidence Of Widespread Leaks

Exam Leaks: There Is No Basis For A National Rewrite
By Veronica Mokhoali

Decision To Have Matriculants Rewrite Two National Senior Certificate Exams May Be Overturned – That’s If Teacher Unions Have Their Way.

The two papers, which were leaked, must be rewritten.

Various unions are now planning to go to court to challenge the Basic Education Department’s decision. Last week, Minister Angie Motshekga announced the first national rewrite of South African history for the mathematics paper 2 and physical science paper 2. The move has been met with backlash from unions, with the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) and student organisation The Congress of South African Students (Cosas) saying the move was irrational and unfair.

Sadtu’s Nomusa Cembi said the unions were going to court.

“Sadtu believes that the decision to have all learners rewrite these papers is unfair and premature because the investigation has not been concluded. Based on the initial investigation which has shown that the number of learners who may have seen the paper are less than 200 out of 390,00 who wrote the papers. There is no basis for a national rewrite.” Cosas called on pupils not to sit for the rewrite saying there was no evidence of widespread leaks.

The organisation’s Douglas Ngobeni said, “If there is a need for a rewrite, they were supposed to focus on those specific learners because at the end of the day it’s a mess they created, instead going back to the public of South Afric, to apologise to the learners of South Africa for having put them in such a tough situation. ” An employee of a Johannesburg-based company that the Basic Department had been contracted to print exam scripts, has since been arrested.

This news was originally published at EWN