COSAS Statement January 2015:
The Congress of South African Students has noted with utter dismay the announcement on two provinces Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Province, facing a possibility of having their results withheld after allegations of group cheating in the provinces in question. The organization has received the information in complete concern as matric results in South Africa are already being released very late and have a negative impact in terms of necessary planning for matriculants the following year including the selection process of students for entry into universities. The department of basic education needs to work closely with the department of higher education to ensure that should results of the provinces in question be withheld there is a plan in place to ensure they are not excluded from the selection process in university entries.
The Congress of South African Students continues to question as to where invigilators and monitors were when exams were taking place, we believe if there was any form of unwarranted cheating it should have been detected during the exams and dealt with there and then. The reality that the alleged cheating has been detected during marking of the scripts and has led to a need for investigations shows that during the process of guarding the examination process there was negligence be it intentional or unintentional. Our main worry and concern remains that of the many other matriculants who may not be linked in any way to this debacle who will have they lives on a stand still. We are totally against gap years as they lead to young people having a whole year of being direction less to themselves giving them time to get involved in unprogressive activities be it crime or any other form. As an organization we stand by, even the learners who may have copied, the department of basic education needs to tell us as to what will the plan be for them should they be found guilty, proper arrangements must be in place in order to ensure that in the end they get their matric certificates, be it through rewrites or other possible ways.
Students are running out of patience on the continued scandals that are taking place within the department of basic education, the carelessness and lack of responsibility in the different levels of the department results to a need for crisis management all the time. We are of the knowledge that education is a priority in our country and this should reflect in all activities of the department of basic education. As an organization we are still saying there should be a complete cut off on the publication of matric results. The department of basic education has agreed with us that publication of matric results is incorrect and our call was that of a total banishment of it.
The act of the department of basic education of changing the method only after admitting that it is wrong to publish results leaves us with suspense as to whom exactly is benefiting from profits made in the sales of newspapers and whether this is not a money scheme where certain people in the department of basic education are benefiting. The department of basic education cannot publicize critical information such as identity numbers of minors as it is a disaster waiting to happen and again will lead to yet another crisis, we are all aware of the high rate of crime in our country which will feast in this mistake by the department. We are not going to allow anyone to sell ID numbers of students for Three Rands by the robots. Shops and garages must also be aware. The organization this year is filing a court application against publication of matric results.
Issued by the Congress of South African Students
Contact:
COSAS President :
Sandra Baloyi: 079 149 0157
Secretary General Office:
Khulekani Skosana: 082 346 7959
Zama Khanyase: 074 334 8248
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