Dpt admits exam irregularities

2008-01-03 19:04

Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane

Nelspruit - Mpumalanga's education department conceded on Thursday that there appeared to be widespread irregularities in exam results released to the province's 74 485 matriculants.

Hundreds of pupils at schools across the province have been wrongly failed because their results for crucial exams have either been lost or excluded from their annual report cards.

Education spokesperson Hlahla Ngwenya confirmed on Thursday that an intensive inter-departmental investigation has been launched as growing numbers of schools and irate parents query the flawed results.

"Principals have begun sending us documentary evidence that seems to support claims that hundreds of learners were incorrectly failed. Their report cards claim they didn't write certain exams, when the evidence indicates that they, in fact, did do so," said Ngwenya.

The "missing" results include marks for English, Sepedi, Xitsonga, Siswati and technical drawing exams.

"Something obviously went wrong somewhere. We think that education officials sent [incomplete] reports to schools before they received all the updated exam results. The reports therefore give inaccurate or incomplete results. A high level investigation is underway, and whoever was responsible will pay," said Ngwenya.

Mpumalanga authorities initially denied any irregularities, with Ngwenya instead suggesting that pupils and teachers had possibly cheated.

The errors were initially detected at four rural village schools in Mpumalanga's impoverished Bushbuckridge region on Tuesday, with similar oversights reported on Thursday at schools in the provincial capital Nelspruit, as well as in major cities such as Emalahleni (Witbank), Standerton and Middelburg.

'Wide-scale problem'

"It appears to be a wide-scale problem," said Ngwenya on Thursday.

Ngwenya was unable to give any further details, but said the investigation was expected to be completed by Friday.

Opposition parties have slammed the errors as "incompetent" and "uncaring" bungling that will likely cost rural students any chance to study at mainstream universities.

"The incorrect results will make universities think twice before accepting students from Mpumalanga, while the delays caused by the province trying to fix the problems will also put local students at a disadvantage as they compete for limited seats at the best universities," explained the Democratic Alliance's (DA) provincial leader, Anthony Benadie.

Benadie said constituency workers had already been swamped with queries and complaints from both parents and pupils in the Nkangala district around Emalahleni.

"Even schools are now phoning us and asking for help, because the education department initially rejected complaints, and now simply doesn't know what is going on," he said.

Benadie added that it appeared that not just exam results had been 'misplaced', with growing evidence that pupils' academic scores from earlier in the year had also been excluded from their final year mark.

'Growing scandal'

"We've learnt that some schools submitted the (academic year) marks to the department, where they were promptly lost. Schools tell us they've re-submitted the marks, but that it appears they were never captured as part of the final results," said Benadie.

The growing scandal is, Benadie claims, merely the latest incident of mismanagement by education MEC Siphosezwe Masango who refuses to act against incompetent officials and instead allows those responsible to cover-up their failures.

"This isn't the first matric results scandal in Mpumalanga. In fact, this province is notorious for get its matric results wrong. But it's not just matrics who suffer.

"The province also fails to provide proper transport for rural scholars, fails to provide proper facilities and textbooks, and according to the Auditor General is also failing to feed rural primary school pupils even though it has the money to do so," says Benadie.

Masango failed to return calls to respond to the allegations, while Ngwenya declined to comment on 'speculation' or to pre-empt the matric exam investigation.

He was also unable to say whether the apparent flawed results would impact on Mpumalanga's matric pass rate, which recorded a 4.5% drop, from a 65,3% pass rate in 2006 to a 60.8% pass rate in 2007.

The national exam watchdog, Umalusi, declined to comment until it was presented with the full facts, while national education spokesman Lunga Ngqengelele was not immediately available for comment.

- African Eye