- On Monday, Umalusi approved the 2022 matric exam results.
- While approving the results, it did raise concerns about various forms of cheating that took place.
- However, the cheating reported was not of a systemic nature and did not compromise the credibility or integrity of the examinations.
While no systemic cases of cheating were uncovered during the National Senior Certificate examinations, the Quality Council for General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) says it remains seriously concerned about some irregularities.
Umalusi chairperson Professor Yunus Ballim announced on Monday that the 2022 National Senior Certificate examinations administered by the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (SACAI), Independent Examinations Board (IEB) and Department of Basic Education had been given the green light.
However, despite the approval by the quality assurance council, a "long list" of irregularities - including cheating - were uncovered during the writing of the exams in November and December last year.
Rakometsi said Umalusi remained seriously concerned about the reported cases of cheating, but also thanked the assessment bodies for uncovering the irregularities.
While a number of the issues had been resolved, Rakometsi also took the time to give a couple of examples of unresolved irregularities where further investigation was warranted.
This included the 58 examination centres where 1 289 pupils were allegedly involved in using WhatsApp groups to exchange answers.
Umalusi chief executive Dr Mafu Rakometsi said they had received reports of different forms of cheating, which included:
- Candidates found in possession of crib notes and cellphones
- Sharing of answers via WhatsApp groups
- Imposters found in examination rooms
- Answer scripts with different handwritings
According to a previous statement from Umalusi on the matter, it's alleged that the pupils had paid teachers to have the answers posted on a particular WhatsApp group, and during toilet breaks while the examinations were in progress.
Other "group copying" cases were also identified in KwaZulu-Natal where 118 pupils were allegedly involved, 52 in the Eastern Cape, 14 in the Free State, and six in Gauteng.
Cases where pupils were allegedly assisted by invigilators at the examination centres are also being investigated.
According to Rakometsi, two centres in the Eastern Cape were identified as places where four pupils had been assisted.
In KwaZulu-Natal, 600 pupils were allegedly assisted by invigilators at four examination centres, while two centres in the North West were identified as having two pupils assisted.
Multiple cases of pupils copying from one another were also reported.
Rakometsi mentioned other irregularities, including different handing writing on an answer paper, pupils marked absent who handed in papers, and pupils who used "pornography" as an "artistic expression".
He added that in instances where invigilators had been identified as assisting, Umalusi had asked that reports be submitted on the action to be taken against the implicated officials.
As for the pupils, he said that different punishments had been meted out to those involved, including the nullification of results and being barred from writing NSC exams for a year or two.
Umalusi was, however, happy to report that there had been no reports of exams being leaked.
Despite the irregularities, Ballim said there had been no systemic irregularities that would compromise the credibility or integrity of the results.
Approving the results for SACAI, Umalusi did order that the results for a candidate implicated in an irregularity be nullified, while also raising concerns around the storage of examination scripts.
"Umalusi is concerned about the storage of examination scripts at examination centres for a prolonged period and the negligence observed in the sharing of the question papers with the Umalusi Post Examination Analysis team, which led to a compromise of four approved November 2022 NSC examination question papers," he said.
The IEB’s results were approved, but the results of all candidates implicated in irregularities would also be nullified.
In the case of the education department, Ballim said it was required to block the results of all candidates implicated in irregularities, including those implicated in alleged acts of dishonesty, pending the outcome of departmental investigations, and verification by Umalusi.
"Particular attention should be paid to recurring matters of non-compliance."