Local school at centre of alleged marks scandal as ‘most grade 10s fail’

WHILE many learners are already in holiday mode after receiving their term reports from their respective schools, this was not the case at Norkem Park High School where chaos erupted on Thursday following allegations of bribery and wrong marks.

It is alleged that 90% of the school’s grade 10s failed the grade.

Both parents and learners claimed a few learners who had failed all their subjects paid R600 and were promoted, while those who only failed one subject and didn’t pay the bribe, failed the entire grade.

When EXPRESS arrived at the school on Thursday morning, after receiving complaints from parents regarding their children’s reports, parents and teachers were found lined up outside the principal’s office.

The principal and deputy principal refused to come out of their offices to give comment to the media.

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Later, EXPRESS was allowed into principal Hasani Chauke’s office to try and get clarification on the allegations. Chauke was in a meeting with a learner and her mother when he was asked whether it was true that 90 percent of the grade 10 learners had failed.

Chauke confirmed it was the “majority of grade 10s” who had failed but was not sure of the exact percentage. He also could neither confirm nor deny allegations of a R600 bribe being made as he said the information had not come to his attention.

Earlier in the year, parents had contacted EXPRESS to complain about the timetable confusion taking place at the high school. When contacted at the time, Chauke refuted the allegations and said everything was under control.

Asked again on Thursday whether the timetable mix-up had affected the pass or fail rate of the grade 10s, Chauke said, “I cannot say at this point in time what the causes are, kindly contact me later for the information.”

Chauke again denied there had been any timetable issues, however, the grade 10 pupil in his office at the time objected.

“There were issues with the timetable and the problem was only resolved at the end of term two,” said the learner who wished to remain anonymous.

Chauke said he would respond at a later stage and gave EXPRESS his cellphone number but when contacted telephonically on Friday he said he was in a meeting with parents and learners and needed more time.

Learners claim the principal had referred them to the district office as he would only address them on January 9, 2017.

Another grade 10 learner said the only subject she failed was maths. She said throughout the year she was always complaining to teachers about incorrect marks recorded on her reports but to no avail. Her final report card said she had failed grade 10 and she did not understand why.

Yet another said she had not failed any subjects from term one to three. “Geography was given to me as a subject and I kept telling them that I did not do geography but Sciences. My report does not have a mark for geography and says I failed grade 10,” she explained.

A fourth learner said her report always had dashes and she didn’t have a term three report.

It is still not clear when and how the matter will be resolved but it is clear that learners and parents are unhappy and will not rest until they are given answers.

Express is trying to get comment from Gauteng Education Department.