EXAMINATION SECRECY
THE disqualification of 130 learners who sat for the Form V external examination at Phumelele High School in Matsapha cannot go without being questioned.
Not only do parents of the affected pupils deserve an explanation and redress but the nation at large needs to know what is going on.
This is too important a matter to be veiled under secrecy.
The more than 130 learners sat for the all-important Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education (EGCSE) exam last year, at the school now known as Cebisa Christian Academy.
The school was among those allegedly investigated by the Examinations Council of Eswatini (ECESWA) after reports emerged that some components of the examinations papers had leaked.
The over 130 candidates have not yet received their results, even though the council says the school attained a 58.54 per cent pass rate.
When learners went to the school to fetch their symbols, they were given statements that however, did not show any results.
On approaching ECESWA, they were referred back to their former school.
A spokesperson for the exams council says the matter is being handled by engaging the relevant examination centres.
She declined to reveal more details, citing confidentiality issues.
She did not even want to state if the school that leaked last year’s EGCSE question papers, resulting in pupils nationwide being forced to rewrite them, had been punished. This is worrying. The exams council is a public body funded through taxpayers’ money.
It deals with very delicate information and handles the futures of hundreds of thousands of pupils each year. It should always be transparent.
Otherwise, how are parents expected to make informed decisions about the placement of their children if they do not know what is going on?
How will they know which schools are clean and which are shady?
BAIL OR NO BAIL? T
HE debate on whether some offences be bailable or not has re-emerged.
It reached fever pitch after the murder of 16-year-old Mpilwenhle Mavimbela by a man who was out on bail for contravening the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act, 2018.
The death of young Mpilwenhle of Mafutseni has shocked the entire nation, not only because of its gruesomeness but because it was committed by a man who was out on bail.
Prince Simelane, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, has weighed in on this debate, expressing shock that a suspect could be given bail three times on related offences. It really beats logic.
While all suspects should be presumed innocent until convicted, we really need to strike a balance here. The ball is in Parliament’s court.
Legislators need to quickly come up with legislation that will protect survivors while at the same time not infringing on the rights of those who may be falsely accused.