MEDIA BRIEFING BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION, MS ANGIE MOTSHEKGA, ON THE MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE 2015 NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION IN THE LIMPOPO PROVINCIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
1. INTRODUCTION
The National Senior Certificate examination officially began on the 26th of October 2015 and will conclude on the 27th of November 2015. A total of 1 698 examination centres in the Limpopo Province are engaged in the writing of the 2015 NSC examination. A total of 102 620 candidates registered to write the 2015 NSC examination in the province. The 2015 NSC enrollment has increased by 29 077 compared to the 2014 NSC enrollment. From 16 November 2015, the candidates will have begun the fourth week of the examination, which has proceeded according to the timetable.
2. LIMPOPO PROVINCE’S MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE 2015 NSC EXAMINATION
The Department of Basic Education has had regular engagement and ongoing dialogue with the Limpopo PED during the year to ensure that the province is fully prepared to manage and administer the 2015 NSC examination. Since the audit of the examination systems and processes conducted in 2013, and Collaborative Review Process in 2014, as well as, during the state of readiness monitoring visits to the province in 2015, the DBE has identified inherent and ongoing risks that posed a genuine threat to the credibility of the NSC examination. During the Senior Certificate, State of Readiness Visit, on 27 May 2015, these risks were identified and communicated to the Head of Department, via letter. During the NSC State of Readiness Visit, conducted on 19-20 August 2015, the DBE evaluated all the provincial systems relating to the 2015 NSC examinations, including, the registration of candidates and centres, printing, packing and distribution of question papers, marking and monitoring processes. The DBE evaluated the five districts’ state of readiness and also conducted an audit of a sample of the examination centres so that their categorisation by the PED, according to their respective risk profiles (High, Medium, Low) could be confirmed. An audit of the PED’s 2015 NSC marker appointments was conducted and the compliance of the provincial monitoring system was evaluated against the tiered monitoring approach recommended by the DBE.
Subsequent to the State of Readiness Visit, a Preliminary Feedback Report was presented to the Senior General Manager in the province, by the Chief Director: National Assessment and Public Examinations (NAPE) on 20 August 2015. Serious concerns that had the potential to compromise the credibility of the 2015 NSC examination were highlighted and there was a commitment by the PED to attend to these shortcomings. The final State of Readiness Report and a letter was sent to the Head of Department reiterating the following key concerns that emanated from the monitoring visit:
a. Limited examination staff capacity at the head office in Polokwane and in the districts placed the current examination officials under immense pressure.
b. The examination offices in Polokwane did not have telephone lines, fax lines and no internet connectivity. Officials were using their private cell phones and private3G connectivity. The lack of basic resources has been a persistent challenge prior to the DBE visit to the province in August 2015.
c. The Chief Director for Examinations, Mr Mphahlele, has for the last four months been operating without an office. He has been managing examinations, while squatting at the office of the Senior General Manager.
d. The storage and packing area at their new premises were not secure and did meet the minimum norms and standards for security required for printing, packing and distribution sites.
e. The PED lacked the capacity to monitor the examinations adequately (in 2014 an estimated 30% of centres were monitored throughout the examination by the PED due to limited staff capacity), given the restrictions in kilometres, the limited vehicles available in districts and the poor roadworthiness of many GG vehicles.
f. The mark capture centre was not finalised, given the absence of connectivity at the new premises.
g. The server that supports the examination network is old and is often down, thus making data management a challenge.
h. The PED’s marker appointment system and processes are not strictly compliant with the criteria listed in the Personal Administrative Measures (PAM), in specific cases and the appointments had not been finalised at the time of the State of Readiness Visit.
In addition to the above, as early as 2013, the DBE has raised concerns about the large number of distribution points in the province. At these distribution points, question papers were stored for a minimum of five days, and there was a lack of adequate security at many of these distribution points. Based on the pressure from the DBE, the number of distribution points was reduced to 59, which is still regarded as a large number.
Following Umalusi’s verification of the Limpopo PED’s capacity to manage and administer the 2015 NSC examination, a letter was received from the quality assurance body on 22 October 2015, in which they expressed serious reservations about the state of readiness of Limpopo province to administer the 2015 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination and requested the DBE to assist the PED with the management and administration of the 2015 NSC examinations.
The DBE implemented the following responsive interventions to support the province in this regard:
a. The Chief Director, Dr RR Poliah, personally visited the province to inspect the storage facility on the new premises and attend to other critical risks. In addition, a DBE official, Ms Sechoaro, was deployed to the provincial office to monitor and support various processes, since 26 October 2015.
b. The concern about the laissez-faire attitude of the examinations staff, raised by Umalusi, was closely monitored at all levels by the contingent of DBE monitors that have been deployed to the province since the 26 October 2015.
c. The DBE conducted a detailed audit of the marker appointments and the findings were presented in a report availed to the Head of Examinations. Between 2- 4 November 2015, the DBE supported the Senior General Manager, in the province, conducted and completed a verification audit in response to the Umalusi report and the DBE’s audit report respectively, to enable the PED to address all appointment discrepancies that had been identified.
d. A total of 26 monitors were deployed to the province. This comprised of DBE officials from the Chief Directorate: National Assessment and Public Examinations, together with DBE’s part time monitors and IQMS moderators.
3. REPORT RECEIVED ON 16 NOVEMBER 2015 ON AN ALLEGED LEAKAGE OF THE LIFE SCIENCES QUESTION PAPER.
At about 6am on Monday morning (16th November 2015) we received a tip off as DBE that the Life Sciences Paper 2 had been leaked, the DBE was able to verify the information received and confirm that the question paper provided at least an hour before the examination could commence, was in fact the official question paper. This confirmed a compromise to the question paper.
4. ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION
The DBE together with the PED will deal with this alleged irregularity adopting the following approach:
a. Establishment of an Investigative Task Team
In terms of the Regulations on the Conduct, Administration and Management of the National Senior Certificate examinations, the National Examinations Irregularities Committee (NEIC) will take responsibility for investigating examination irregularities as requested by the Director General. The Investigative Task Team will be approved by the Director General and its terms of reference will include the following:
i. To establish the source of the security breach.
ii. To establish the spread of the access to the question paper.
iii. To make recommendations on the credibility of the examination in the district
iv. To make recommendations on how such a breach can be prevented in the future.
The Investigate Team will comprise the Department of Basic Education, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA); University South Africa (previously Higher Education South Africa), and Umalusi. The report from the Investigative Team will be presented to the Minister and the Quality Assurance Council (Umalusi)
b. Establishment of an Oversight Team
The Oversight Team will work with the Provincial Examination Team, to guard the integrity of the remaining question papers, that are still to be written. The Oversight Team will ensure that all examination processes relating to the next six weeks are tightly controlled and managed.
The DBE will increase its presence in the province through the deployment of additional officials to the province. At the moment there are 30 DBE officials and monitors, in the province and they will focus specifically on the locale of the alleged leakage. These officials together with the monitors will also cover every district and circuit in the province, in the remaining two weeks.
c. The Quarantining of the Examination
To ensure that the alleged compromise is limited and does not contaminate the rest of the examination in the district and the province, the scripts of the circuit and the schools that are currently under suspicion, together with the examination processes will be placed under quarantine and the scripts will be subjected to an investigative audit so that the candidates that have not had access to the question paper can be isolated from those that are implicated. This will ensure that the credibility of the examination in the province as a whole is maintained.
To assist with the investigations the South African Police Services (SAPS), together with the State Security Agency (SSA), will be brought on board so that the perpetrators can be prosecuted. The NSC is a legislated examination and is therefore protected by the law. The DBE will leave no stone unturned in getting to the bottom of this breach that seeks to undermine the credibility of the flagship qualification of this country.
Possible outcomes depending on the scale of the leak as determined by the investigation.
1. Learners at the affected school could be asked to rewrite the exam
2. Learners in the district could be asked to rewrite the exam
3. Learners in the province could be asked to rewrite the exam.
5. CONCLUSION
The DBE is intent on investigating and resolving the matter at hand with immediate effect, as well as to ensure that the credibility of the examination in Limpopo Province has not been tarnished by this very serious malpractice. Any individual with information must make contact with the DBE hotline or the provincial hotline.
I would also like to appreciate the commitment of officials throughout the country for keeping the exams clean, and for condemning and exposing wrong doers. It is these actions that will maintain the integrity of the examinations.
Issued by Elijah Mhlanga on behalf of the DBE, 17 November 2015
