Matrics living in neighbouring countries have been barred from writing SA’s National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams from this year, after quality assurance body Umalusi received legal advice on the matter.
Umalusi CEO Mafu Rakometsi told parliament last Tuesday that “the laws of the country don’t allow that”.
“These things happened and it was a mistake in the past and we are now trying to correct them.
“The challenge is if a paper were to leak, for instance, in Eswatini, we don’t have the SAPS in Eswatini. Who will investigate that? Also, that will impact on South Africa because they will be writing the same paper as our students.”
Basic education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga confirmed to TimesLIVE Premium that between 500 and 700 pupils from Eswatini used to write the NSC exams annually.
Pupils attending schools in Eswatini, Mozambique and Namibia also previously wrote the NSC exams that were administered by the Independent Examinations Board (IEB), another assessment body. The last NSC exams under the auspices of the IEB were written in 2021.
Anne Oberholzer, former CEO of the IEB who retired in February, said last year they offered a new IEB qualification called the International Secondary Certificate (ISC) to schools outside SA that is quality assured by Stellenbosch University.
Rakometsi said: “The unintended consequence of having the NSC outside the borders of South Africa is that those students in Eswatini and, in the case of the IEB in Namibia, Mozambique and other jurisdictions, will be able to compete for university spaces with our students in South Africa.”
“These are university spaces that we all know are very limited in the country. They are then able to enter the South African job market easily because they have got the qualifications that we have in South Africa.”
He was presenting Umalusi’s annual performance plan for 2023/24 and its budget to members of the basic education portfolio committee.
Meanwhile, MP Elvis Siwela asked whether Umalusi had the capacity to quality assure the new General Education Certificate (GEC) qualification, which the department was planning to implement in 2025.
For the first time, grade 9 pupils will write national tests based on the GEC and receive a certificate if they pass, which is similar to the matric certificate.
MP Walter Letsie enquired about the major limitations of the GEC and whether the policy on the GEC would be processed in this financial year.
Another MP Baxolile Nodada asked what the anticipated timeline was for the re-submission of the GEC policy by the department to Umalusi for quality assurance processes to be done.
Responding to the questions, Rakometsi said they developed reports that were sent to the department indicating what needs to be strengthened in the GEC qualification.
“We are awaiting re-submission of the qualification to Umalusi so that once we are satisfied that the qualification meets all the requirements, we will then be able to submit it for registration with the South African Qualifications Authority [Saqa].”
He said one of their findings from the evaluation of the GEC “is that the policy is silent on programmes offered at schools of skill”.
“We hope the revised policy from the department will address this matter.”
Rakometsi said they had the know-how to quality assure the GEC but that resources were a problem.
He urged MPs to look at the “inadequacy” of Umalusi’s R197.4m budget for the financial year, saying it “undermines the mandate of Umalusi”.
“For example, we have to reduce sample sizes on which we pronounce on the quality assurance work we do, thus making huge pronouncements on a very small sample that we have done.
“It is a sample that may even not be representative of the picture that we have as a country from Cape Town to Musina, Richards Bay and Empangeni to Springbok.”
He said one of the things he did continuously with his executive management was “to keep on motivating the staff by showing them the work we are doing is very important for the country to keep their morale high”.
“With the reduced budget, we have staff that is overstretched and work long hours and suffer burnout and resign.
“Once they resign and cross over to sister organisations or government departments they call their friends to say, ‘I am having a free weekend. I don’t knock off at 6pm or 8pm at night. When I close my laptop at 4pm, I am going to be with my family and enjoy quality time.’ With you there at Umalusi, you are working 24/7.”
Said Rakometsi: “It’s an institution that has to do such a massive task for the country and yet we are over-stretched.”
Up to the end of December, 23 staff members resigned from their posts at Umalusi.
He said they had approved 12 additional posts for filling from this month “to relieve some of the work pressure”.
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