Paper leak – team will go all out to find truth

Following the leakage of Mathematics Final Examination Paper 2 at Giyani High School last week, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga has established a Ministerial Investigation Team that will fully investigate all aspects of this case.
According to her, the team will work closely with officials at the Department of Education and Education MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe has assured that his department will support the investigation and will take all possible measures to secure the rest of the examination.
Motshekga said they have commenced with the investigation and they have engaged the services of the Hawks and have also opened a case with the South African Police Service (SAPS).
“The Ministerial Investigation Team will report to me in the next six weeks and they will work closely with the Hawks and will engage the services of a private investigation company, if the case so warrant. We have made significant progress in our attempt to get to the bottom of this breach,” Motshekga said.
During a press conference in Polokwane on Friday Motshekga stressed that she was deeply disappointed by the unfortunate incident which has the potential of tarnishing the credibility of the National Senior Certificate Examination. “We take this breach very seriously given that over the last few years we have worked very hard to improve the security all measures relating to the delivery of a clean examination,” she said.
Explaining how the paper could have leaked, she said their preliminary findings have shown that a copy of the question paper, not in exactly the same format as the final examination paper, was received by a candidate who is a learner at the Giyani High School. “The learner has come forward and made this confession voluntarily. He has made a full disclosure which is extremely helpful in getting the investigation off the ground.
“Other learners from the school have also come forward and admitted to having received the question paper from a Whats­App chat group, on their cell phones. The question paper did not have the features of the final examination paper but the contents and sequence of the questions were exactly the same as that of the final question paper. At this stage it would seem that the leakage could be limited to selected learners in the one school and few learners from neighbouring schools,” Motshekga said.
“We are becoming acutely aware of the role of modern technology in the examination process and as a system we may not have adequately addressed security risks associated with these communication innovations. We will obtain expert advice of our information technology specialists in addressing this matter. This may entail a review of our legislative framework and certain examination practices,” she stated.
“It pains me to imagine that among us one or two individuals who are bent on undoing the good work that has been done over the years, in order to further their own selfish motives. These kinds of irregularities have the potential of jeopardising the future plans and ambitions of our learners. Therefore, a collective effort is required from all members of the community to weed out these elements. We are calling to all people who are aware of any of these activities to please phone the department on 0800 202 933.We are saying to all candidates writing the examination they must not be distracted and my appeal to them is to keep focussed. Learners that obviously obtain an unfair advantage over others will be indentified through our special measures that we adopt during the marking process and using post examination analytical measures and the Department we will not rest if this vital national asset is tampered with,” Motshegwa said.
At the time of going to print Spokesperson for the Department of Education, Naledzani Rasila said no arrest has been made. “We are still probing the issues, law enforcement is dealing with it and we will make an announcement of the findings in due course,” Rasila said.

Story and photos: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert@mailbox.co.za

Featured photo: Top left: Angie Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education during the press conference in Polokwane on Friday. Top right: Ishmael Kgetjepe, MEC for Education. Bottom left: Elijah Mhlanga, Spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education. Bottom right: Rufus Poliah, Chief Director National Examinations.