Quality assurance body Umalusi has declared the education system ready to administer the most important exams of a child’s school career. On Monday next week, more than 920,000 candidates are scheduled to start writing the National Senior Certificate exams, a nerve-racking exercise for pupils, teachers and parents. Some practical exams have already started this week. We can only hope the administrators have learnt something from the tough challenges of the past few years.
Last year’s lowlight was a mistake in a question in maths paper 2 that was impossible to solve. At the time, a three-member independent panel was appointed by Umalusi to investigate the matter. The question was worth seven marks and because of the error the paper was marked out of 93 instead of 100, with Umalusi CEO Mafu Rakometsi saying pupils would not be disadvantaged by the error.
Though on paper that was true, in practice it was a different story, with many pupils getting stuck on the unsolvable question, wasting precious time they could have used on the rest of the paper, not to mention the anxiety caused while writing the paper when they failed to find an answer. These are children who needed a specific maths mark to secure a spot at a tertiary institution; it was a make-or-break moment for many.
The Gauteng department of education is a competent organisation with a track record in provincial exam setting. It is therefore inconceivable that such glaring errors and amateurish solutions to the errors were allowed to see the light of day.
— Emmanuel Mushayikwa, senior science lecturer at the
Wits School of Education
Just last week Rakometsi said measures had been put in place to prevent errors, with papers double-checked and signed off by an external moderator. “We have learnt our lesson that there should be double measures taken to ensure errors don’t happen,” he said.
The proof will be in the execution. TimesLIVE Premium last month reported on errors in the physical sciences paper 1 during the matric’s preparatory exams. The paper, set by the Gauteng education department, had serious mistakes in three multiple-choice questions carrying six marks in total. A senior science lecturer at the Wits School of Education, Emmanuel Mushayikwa, described it as “inexcusable and unacceptable”, pointing out the time wastage that can happen while a student agonises over the correct answer, when there is none. This happened almost a year after the mistake in the maths paper.
It is disconcerting that despite all the undertakings from authorities, the provincial department can get it so wrong and with little explanation as to how it happened.
Mushayikwa further said: “The Gauteng department of education is a competent organisation with a track record in provincial exam setting. It is therefore inconceivable that such glaring errors and amateurish solutions to the errors were allowed to see the light of day. These solutions suggested for marking are not educationally sound and do not portray the ethics of assessment.”
Gauteng education department spokesperson Steve Mabona said the exams were subjected to internal and external moderation. An exam panel comprised two examiners, a translator and an internal and external moderator. Yet the mistakes slipped through. It does not inspire confidence.
The only thing we can hope for is that education officials are now more aware of the consequences of not getting the basics right. Anxiety among many matriculants hit the roof during the final exam. This is the time when our education authorities should be playing a supporting role. Pupils should be able to rely on them for a smooth and fair exam. Rakometsi maintains confidence that all will proceed smoothly. Now all this group of matriculants can do is stay level-headed, trust in the process and do their part in terms of preparations. The rest is up to the authorities to not let them down again.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.