A lawyer representing concerned matric pupils is threatening to go to court to force the department of basic education to reverse its decision to get grade 12s to rewrite maths paper 2 and physical science paper 2.
This comes in the wake of teacher union Sadtu’s move to seek an urgent interdict on Monday to halt the rewrite.
A petition calling for the cancellation of the rewrites has so far garnered almost 67,000 signatures.
Erhard Prinsloo, from PWG Attorneys in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, forwarded a letter to the department on Saturday, calling for it to provide reasons by 9am on Monday why the decision for a rewrite was taken.
“Tens of thousands of innocent learners will now be punished for the criminal conduct of a few adults. Final grade 12 exam papers have leaked before, but never has a rewriting been decided upon to remedy this unfortunate occurrence.”
He said through proper investigation and with the benefit of technology it may be easily established who had access to the papers that allegedly leaked and to what extent those pupils may have benefited.
Prinsloo said many pupils have returned their textbooks and destroyed their learning material.
“It would not be fair to put these innocent learners in a position where they can rewrite the exam papers as early as next week with the same level of confidence and preparedness as previously.”
In his letter Prinsloo said they had also learnt informally from educators that they are “unwilling to participate on the rewrite dates”.
“This will impact once again on the integrity of the rewritten papers. There is a reasonable likelihood that all of the innocent learners will find it difficult to achieve the same level of motivation and mental strength required and would be seriously disadvantaged by any rewriting, despite their innocence.”
He said the letter was prepared “to make yourselves aware of the difficulties relating to the decision to rewrite”.
If the department failed to retract its decision, they would apply for an urgent interdict this week to force it to do so, Prinsloo said.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Sadtu’s general secretary Mugwena Maluleke confirmed that during the department’s consultations with unions, the majority made it known that they were opposed to the rewrites.
“However, Umalusi did not agree and the decision to rewrite was taken.”
He said Sadtu believed the rewrite “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 the 390,000 who wrote the paper, there is no basis for a national rewrite.”
He said preparing for this year’s matric exams was not easy under Covid-19 conditions and pupils’ mental health and readiness for a rewrite “is a big issue”.
Maluleke said the decision has left many grade 12s and teachers distraught and frustrated.
“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 own making as only a few saw the paper.”
According to the petition, exam leaks in SA are not new, “but rewrites have never been the solution to the problem”.
“A rewrite could also potentially be damaging to students’ marks. Sign this petition to make the government see that their solution is not the answer.”
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