Students raise concerns over suspensions
There were irregularities in the July examinations.
Students of Esayidi Tvet Colleges‘ Engineering Faculty are uncertain about the future after they were served with suspension letters, following irregularities in their second semester examinations in July.
According to some of the students who did not wish to be named for fear of victimisation, examination papers were leaked in July and they were told that they would not get their results.
“After hearing that papers were leaked and the Department of Higher Education (DHET) will be withholding our marks, we started to worry as the marks determine whether we qualify to write our finals next month,” said one of the students from the Oslo Beach Campus.
He said that the results were to be released two weeks after the exams. While they were still waiting they learned of the irregularities as per DHET.
“The college advised us to sign sworn affidavits at the nearest police station stating that we were not part of the group of students who cheated in their exams, to be excluded from the investigations.
“Later we were told that the results had been released, however investigations were continuing,” said the student.
He said as part of procedure once results have been received, students are allowed to register for the next semester or apply to write supplementary exams, to improve their marks.
He said while attempting to register for either the supplementary or the next semester, they were served with suspension letters which stated they had been suspended for 11 months and cannot enter an examination room until the suspension is finalised or lifted.
“Our biggest worry is that our names are not on the list of those who have been permitted to write the finals. If we wait 11 months as per the suspension it means that we will stay at home for that duration and our studies will not continue.
“This means the entire year was wasted,” another student said.
Esayidi Tvet College exam manager, Msa Zondi said: “Esayidi did not issue suspension letters to the students, however as per the DHET’s instruction we cannot allow students to return to campus until the suspension period is completed or lifted. The marking department found irregularities, therefore some students have been suspended.”
DHET spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said irregularities were found in four TVET College examination results
“On September 5, the Umalusi Assessment Standards Committee (ASC) and DHET held a meeting to finalise proposals to normalise the performance of candidates in the four subjects, Maths N3, Engineering Science N3, Fitting and Machining N2 and Electro-technology N3.
“The Umalusi Council approved the results and released the approval letter to DHET with 39 777 candidates’ results and the nullification of the results of 2 028 candidates who were implicated in examination irregularities,”Mnisi added.
He said the results of the 39 777 candidates were processed for release by DHET on September 9, however those of the 2 028 candidates implicated in these serious irregularities remain blocked.
“The results remain nullified and accordingly, the implicated students will be allowed to register to write the end of the year examinations.
“If implicated again they will be suspended for a period of three years from participating in future examinations, explained Mnisi
He said that DHET condemns this phenomena of some students engaging in irregularities that has the effect of undermining the credibility and integrity of our examinations.
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