Out of town matriculant relieved she can receive her results online

An 18-year-old matric pupil, Anlé Spies, who was the first applicant in a bid to reverse basic education minister Angie Motshega’s decision not to publish matric exam results on media platforms, says she is happy the tradition will be retained.

On Tuesday judge Anthony Millar ordered the department “to publish the National Senior Certificate results on public platforms (media platforms), as was the practice in previous years, concurrently with making available the results to the schools that had been attended by the pupils”.

“I am very happy. I am glad we can hold this tradition in SA,” Spies told TimesLIVE.

The pupil’s application was supported by AfriForum and Maroela Media.

Spies, through her legal representation, Hurter Spies Inc, said the department’s decision would result in grave inconvenience for her as she completed her matric in Pretoria but lives 1,000km away from the school, outside Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.

At the core of the argument was the practicality of only receiving the results at the school where they completed their matric studies, meaning if a pupil is not at the school on the day, they might not receive their results timeously.

“I think if we didn’t do it nothing would have changed. It wouldn’t have been in the newspaper and it would have been very sad,” Spies said.

AfriForum welcomed the court’s ruling.

“It is in the public interest that this information is shared on public platforms, and that is one of the reasons we brought this application. We are delighted the court agreed with this argument,” said Natasha Venter, manager of education rights at AfriForum.

The court also ordered the department to pay the applicants’ costs.

TimesLIVE