EDITORIAL | Department has failed in its handling of access to matric results

In four days’ time, more than 730,000 matriculants are set to receive their final exam results. But thanks to the department of basic education, there is little clarity on where matrics will be able to access their marks if they are not near their schools on Friday. 

The confusion started early last week when the department surprised the media, teachers, matriculants and their families by announcing that the results of the most important results of pupils’ school careers would not be published online or in newspapers. This, the department argued, was because of the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia). “To comply with the provisions of the Popia, the usual practice of publishing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results on public platforms (media platforms) will not occur for 2021,” the department said in a notice to media houses. “As was also the practice in previous years, all learners will be required to obtain their statement of results from the schools they attended. In this way every learner’s personal information with regards to the outcome of their National Senior Certificate exam will be protected.”

It has since realised this is not the most practical arrangement. This would have meant that if a matriculant were not near his or her school this coming Friday, they would not be able to access their marks. It is surprising this detail did not occur to the powers that be when the statement was issued. The SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) described the lack of consultation ahead of the announcement as “unfortunate”. AfriForum, Maroela Media and a matriculant are heading to court on Tuesday to oppose the decision. 

The class of 2021 has endured so much over the past two years stemming from the disruptions in grade 11 and 12 because of the pandemic. Then they have had to endure the longer than usual wait to get their results. And just this week they learnt at the last minute that the results won’t be released as usual in the newspapers.

—  Parent

It seems the department has had second thoughts on the matter, opening up its website for registration by matriculants. On Sunday, the department said matrics who wrote the 2021 National Senior Certificate exams can receive their “partial results” by registering on its website. But on Monday morning parents and pupils were complaining they were battling to register. “The class of 2021 has endured so much over the past two years stemming from the disruptions in grade 11 and 12 because of the pandemic. Then they have had to endure the longer than usual wait to get their results — more than two weeks later than results are usually announced. And just this week they learnt at the last minute that the results won’t be released as usual in the newspapers. Now they are told they can access their results without going to school if they register online only to be met with a technical glitch. These poor kids have been through the most and the department is really not helping them,” a parent told Sunday Times Daily. This while department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga insisted on Monday morning the system was up and running.

On the other end of the spectrum is Equal Education which supported the department’s decision not to publish the matric results in the media. “This decision is in line with the department’s legal duty, per the Protection of Personal Information Act, to protect the personal information of learners,” said EE researcher Elizabeth Biney. “The current stance will alleviate some of the psychological stress that the public release of matric results may have imposed on learners in the past — particularly for those who may not have performed as desired or expected. The department’s decision not to publish results does not hinder or limit learners’ access to their results as they can access these through their schools and other platforms,” she said.

Werksmans Attorneys director Ahmore Burger-Smidt said in a radio interview there was a general lack of understanding as to what the Popia actually requires. She described the department’s decision as a “knee-jerk reaction because the department doesn’t have privacy policies in place”.

On Tuesday the Pretoria high court will hear an urgent application by AfriForum, Maroela Media and matriculant Anlé Spies to oppose the department’s decision not to publish the results in the media. The department, in a statement at the weekend, said it had received representations from a “vast array” of organisations and individuals about its decision, adding that it would “abide by the court decision”, interpreted by AfriForum as the DBE saying it won’t oppose its application.

The debate around pupils’ privacy and the reasoning behind the publicising of matrics’ results is not a straightforward matter. It is time to talk about the sensibility of this tradition. The problem, though, is that the department should have thought this through long before the release of the results. The Popia came into effect last July and it had been anticipated for a long time. Yet its potential implications only seemed to dawn on the department two weeks before the release of results. Now it has become a decision made in haste, while it should have been a topic timeously and widely consulted on.