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Umalusi, the matric exams quality assurance body, has given the release of this year’s Grade 12 exams the thumbs up, but has indicated a “serious decline” from last year’s overall pass of 75.8%.
Addressing the media in Pretoria Umalusi chairperson Professor John Volmink said the unfortunate events that had been reported this year were not so serious that they would tarnish the credibility and integrity of this year’s matric exams.
“On the basis of its monitoring and moderation processes, and the evidence before it, Umalusi was satisfied that there were no serious irregularities that could undermine the credibility of the examinations. The council was therefore of the opinion that the examinations were conducted in a credible manner and therefore approved the release of the results.”
The results are scheduled to be released next week.
Last month City Press reported the leaking of life sciences papers one and two in Limpopo, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
Volmink said that 19 candidates were implicated in Limpopo in the Vhembe District, three in Mpumalanga and four in Gauteng. He said they would not release the results of these candidates.
“The investigation is still
continuing.”
He also revealed that a number of schools had been implicated in group copying. Twenty six cases were identified in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
“We want to extend a warning to those who are implicated that drastic measures will be taken against them. It is also worth noting that the detection of these irregularities attests to a very functional and vigilant system, Volmink said.
Although he did not announce the official pass rate, he indicated that it was not good and would amount to a “serious decline” from the 75.8% obtained by the class of 2014.
He laid the blame at the doors of the cognitive demands of the question papers, improved quality of script markers, increased vigilance against copying, and languages demands on non-English speakers.
» Get your results – both the Independent Examination Board and National Senior Certificate results – on the City Press website. National Senior Certificate results are available from January 6 2016. Western Cape results will be available from January 7 2016.
