DBE’s incompetence places the exam results of 2020 Matrics at risk

11 December 2020

The judgment of the Gauteng High Court paints a damning picture of the incompetence of the Department of Basic Education (DBE).  The court has decided that the decision that Matrics should rewrite the Mathematics Paper 2 and Physical Science Paper 2 on 15th and 17th December should be set aside.

 The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the DBE to respect and abide by the Court’s decision. This will avoid any further delays and disruptions to the 2020 academic year.

 The Court has set aside the rewrite for two main reasons: 

The court has found that the procedure to be irregular, and that on that ground alone the review succeeds.  It is shocking that the DBE cannot even decide in their own papers and arguments who is supposed to take the decision. They argued that it was the Director General, then it was stated elsewhere that it was the Minister, and yet elsewhere that it was the Council of Education Ministers (CEM), which is not a decision-making body.

The court found that the decision itself was not rational.  This is not such a clear-cut issue, and there are some concerns that emphasis was placed on the inconvenience of learners, who are always told to keep a few days open after the exams in the event of a rewrite.  However, this does not appear to have been argued before the court by the DBE.

The DA this week urged the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, release the preliminary report into the leaks. It is clear that a significant factor in the decision to rewrite is the lack of adequate investigation into the source of the leak, and its extent.  This issue should have been addressed immediately the leak was identified.  If it had been, further leaks could have been prevented and the extent could have been better identified which could have avoided the need for a national re-write.

But the crucial issue is the integrity of the examinations.  The DA urges the DBE to work closely with Umalusi to ensure that the integrity of the 2020 National Senior Certificate (NSC) is protected. Umalusi, tasked with quality assuring the NSC, has indicated that it will not be able to do so. This poses a significant risk that learners who have written Maths and Physical Science may not receive their certificates next year.  We cannot allow integrity to be compromised.  And it is unfair for the learners to sit with this uncertainty.

We call on the bumbling DBE to urgently clarify what this means for our Matrics of 2020.

Issued by Bax Nodada, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, 11 December 2020