Despite some cheats and poor printing, Umalusi approves release of 2023 matric results

Poor print quality on some exam papers and alleged cheating by hundreds of pupils marred the 2023 matric examinations.

Despite this, the executive council of the quality education assurance body Umalusi said on Monday it was able to approve the release of the results. 

The results of the examinations were administered by public and private assessment bodies between October and December 2023.

This includes the national senior certificate (NSC) assessed by the department of basic education, Independent Examinations Board (IEB), and the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (Sacai); the national certificate vocational (NCV: L2-L4) assessed by the department of higher education & training; the national accredited technical education diploma (Nated) Report 190/191 (N2-N3) assessed by the department of basic education, and; the general education and training certificate: adult basic education and training (GETC: Abet) assessed by the department of basic education, IEB and Sacai.

Umalusi CEO Dr Mafu Rakometsi said the quality assurance processes were conducted to serve the best interests of the more than 1,150, 000 candidates. He said the NSC accounts for nearly 920,000 candidate, or 80%. The remaining 20% are distributed across the NC(V) levels 2-4, Nated (N2-N3) and GETC examinations. 

Rakometsi said unaccredited private centres/institutions, printing errors and poor print quality in some exam papers were concerning. He said translation quality also needed careful attention.

“Umalusi is concerned about the unresolved irregularities associated with the previous cycle of examinations, especially in the private college space involving the GETC: Abet examinations. We urge the assessment bodies concerned to give this matter the priority it deserves.

“At the same time, we are deeply concerned about the detected cases of group copying involving 945 candidates who wrote the NSC examinations in 2023. Of this number, 763 cases (80.7%) cases were detected in KwaZulu-Natal and 164 (17.7%) in Mpumalanga.”

He said according to a report submitted, these are cases where the candidates displayed common answers and, in some cases, the same wrong and right answers.

“These cases are not yet resolved because the numbers are being verified,” he said. 

The body's chairperson, Prof Yunus Ballim, said the irregularities identified during the writing and marking of the NSC examination for the department of basic education were not systemic and therefore did not compromise the overall credibility and integrity of the exams.

“In respect of identified irregularities, the department of basic education is required to block the results of all candidates implicated in irregularities, including the candidates who are implicated in alleged acts of dishonesty pending the outcome of the department of basic education investigations and verification by Umalusi.

“Umalusi is concerned about the recurring instances of printing and packaging errors in question papers and the ongoing practice of group copying. The department of basic education is required to address the directives for compliance and improvement highlighted in the quality assurance of assessment report and submit an improvement plan by March 15 2024,” he said.

Examples of printing problems cited by Rakometsi include:

• There was an omission of a subscript on the formula of an organic compound in physical sciences paper 2 in question 2.2 (three marks).
• The physical sciences paper 2 in the North West had missing grid lines in question 3.5 (six marks).
• The three civil technology specialisations (civil services, construction and woodworking) in both the English and Afrikaans versions had major printing errors in Limpopo. The poor print quality in the civil services specialisation affected a question worth 60 marks in the English version and 62 marks in the Afrikaans version. In construction, questions worth 31 marks in the English version and 14 marks in Afrikaans were affected. The marks affected in the woodworking specialisation were 22 and 26 for English and Afrikaans respectively.

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