Cosas insists on results

2005-03-09 23:30

Zenzele Kuhlase

Nelspruit - The Congress of South African Students (Cosas) has threatened student action if education quality control authority, Umalusi, does not award matric certificates to children suspected of cheating last year.

Umalusi has indicated that 843 matric pupils will not receive matric certificates due to irregularities in their 2004 final exams.

"We did our own investigation by interviewing the pupils and what we found is very different from Umalusi's findings," said national Cosas president Smanga Mbila on Wednesday.

He said Cosas had visited the same schools, interviewed pupils and teachers and found that only one pupil had confessed to cheating and that none of the teachers had been involved.

Umalusi found irregularities involving 843 pupils on up to 12 subjects at 11 examination centres, however.

Since the investigations began in January, Umalusi reduced the list of implicated schools from the initial 38 to 11.

They are Eastdene Combined School, East High College of Excellence, Elukhanyisweni High School, Emjindini Secondary School, Exelsus Combined School, Kamhola Secondary School, Lynnville Adult Centre, Metropolitan College, Ncakini High School, Njeyeza Secondary School and WEM School.

Education spokesperson Thomas Msiza said the department would not dispute Umalusi's findings and had formed a joint disciplinary committee with the national education department to deal with the officials implicated in the scam.

Two-year ban

He said if the committee recommended criminal charges against any employees, then the matter would be handed over to police.

As for the cheating pupils, he said some may be suspended from writing their exams for two years, while others may be allowed to rewrite this year, depending on the seriousness of their offence.

The Democratic Alliance has demanded that the implicated officials be suspended immediately without pay.

The party also said that all pupils who cheated should receive the same punishment of a two-year ban on re-writing their exams.

"An offence is an offence and the discipline handed down in each case must be exactly the same without distinction", said member of the provincial legislature Anthony Benadie. "Saying that one cheating offence is lesser than that of another is sending out a clear message to future candidates that some cheating methods are more acceptable than others and that the department of education support this statement."

The DA also urged the department to make both the internal departmental report and the Umalusi report public.

- African Eye