Department to throw the book at matric cheaters

Teachers, pupils and invigilators implicated in the matric exam cheating scandal are to face the might of the law.

Large-scale audits of matric exam papers by Umalusi, the exam oversight body, and education authorities have been conducted based on evidence of cheating at 20 centres in KwaZulu-Natal and 14 in Eastern Cape.

Now, the future of 2800 matrics - 2089 in KwaZulu-Natal and 711 in the Eastern Cape - is hanging in the balance. They will not get their certificates to apply for tertiary education or jobs until the investigations have been finalised.

An investigative audit of exam papers in seven selected subjects in schools implicated in mass copying found overwhelming evidence of irregularities.

Basic Education Department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga told a media briefing in Durban on Friday that some matrics had confessed to cheating.

He said there was sufficient evidence to file charges against pupils, teachers and invigilators implicated in the scandal.

"The confessions came from the pupils and they told us what happened and who did what," said Mhlanga.

Umalusi has cleared seven schools in KwaZulu-Natal but no Eastern Cape schools have been cleared. The schools that have come out clean are: Mzwamandla High in Umlazi; Cabangokuhle High, Umzinyathi; Protea Secondary, Umlazi; Fulton School, Pinetown; Mthiyaqhwa High, Uthungulu; Phathizwe High, Umzinyathi; and Richards Bay High.

The national department has decided to block the results of 19 schools in KwaZulu-Natal and 14 in the Eastern Cape based on the evidence of the audit.

Mhlanga said the chief invigilators, invigilators and matrics implicated would be invited to a formal hearing at which charges against them would be formulated.

In one of the most serious examples of cheating, the investigative audit found that pupils at a particular school had given the same essay response in an English exam paper for which they had been asked to compare the Nuremberg Trials and South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Mhlanga said the department was compiling a range of security measures to ensure there would be no further cheating.

Umalusi said the process was expected to be wrapped up by the end of next month.

Matrics found guilty could be barred from rewriting their exams for three years, as has been implemented in an isolated case of mass copying at a North West school.

Mpikayizekanye Secondary School in Tugela Ferry, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, has emerged as the worst offender.

Parents at the school have banned the principal and her deputy, accused of masterminding the cheating, and classes are yet to start this year.

Mhlanga appealed to parents to refrain from taking the law into their own hands.