Overwhelming support for DBE’s decision over matric result privacy

The basic education department’s move to stop matric results from being made public has been met with a resounding welcome, even from affected pupils themselves, as a victory for the basic right to privacy and dignity.

Mathanzima Mweli, the department’s director-general, explained on Tuesday that to publish the results on public platforms, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) required consent from each candidate who sat for the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.

It would have proven practically impossible to get consent from each of the about 900 000 pupils to comply with the Act, which came into effect in July, so the department opted to stop releasing the matric results to the public as has been the case for decades.

Undue Pressure

The move has been met with support, specifically from those who have argued that the publishing of the results in public platforms led to undue pressure on the pupils, impacting their mental health, anxiety, and ultimately led to suicide.

Matric pupils waiting for their results believe the move will enable each candidate to deal with their own performance first, and then allow them to decide for themselves if they wanted to make this public.

Mpendulo Skosana, 20, who sat for the 2021 NSC examinations at Makhosana Secondary School in Mpumalanga, said the tradition of publishing the matric results was unfair to those affected and has led to suicides.

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“We have had cases before where pupils killed themselves because their names were not in the paper. Only to find out that it was a technical problem, they have actually passed. Also, the method is used by bullies to humiliate their targets. I am glad this has stopped,” he said.

Skosana said legislation such as POPIA should be welcomed, as they sought to protect the weak and vulnerable against undue pressure and humiliation.

“That is what privacy and dignity is all about. Let me deal with my personal failures and achievements at my own pace and mental capacity,” he said.

Understandable but unfair

Kedibone Matjila, 17, a NSC candidate at Senzangakhona high school in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga, said she would have loved to see her name in print, but agreed that this practise must end as it was detrimental to personal privacy.

“That is why it is regarded as personal information. It can never be for public consumption, otherwise it means I am not protected from those with nefarious intentions. Yes it’s nice to be celebrated for your achievement, but what about the potential consequences. Private information cannot be made public?” she said.

Experts agreed, saying this move was long overdue as the right to privacy was already protected in the Constitution.

Communication strategist Sarah Britten said based on the comments she has seen, this was probably a good decision for the mental health of pupils.

Visit The Citizen’s matric portal to view your results and see who South Africa’s top performers are.

She said while having the results in a public, easy to access platform had certain advantages, it also meant that pupils did not have the option of privacy.

“Matric is such a stressful, pressured time and having things out in the open for anyone to see how well you did (or didn’t do) probably made things worse,” Britten said.

The Independent Examinations Board (IEB) has been publishing the results in compliance with the POPIA all along, which means they continue publishing those of students who consented.

“The Independent Examinations Board (IEB) has been publishing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results in compliance with the requirements of POPIA for some years now. Only the results of learners who have opted in and have provided express permission for their results to be published on media platforms are released by the IEB,” Anne Oberholzer, IEB boss, said.

Protection of private information a basic basic right

Clinical psychologist Dr Erica Munnik said any change would usually be met with a certain amount of stress and uncertainty for individuals or groups of individuals.

The senior lecturer, researcher, and supervisor at the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences at University of the Western Cape, said humans naturally made sense by comparison.

She said for pupils, it would now be difficult to compare themselves to the bigger group to see where they fit in and that this might give way to more uncertainty and anxiety or stress.

Munnik explained that contrary to this perception, it might also bring a sense of relief to the pupils anxious about their results, who prefer a more personal communication of their results.

“One needs to understand that protection of information is a very important basic right for us all and therefore the POPI Act is essential to protect this basic right. It might take some time for individuals and matrics to get used to the more personal way of communication of their results,” she said.

There is no alternative to access the results other than at schools where the candidates sat for their examinations, with matric results expected scheduled to be released on 21 January 2022.

• siphom@citizen.co.za