‘Group copying’ row casts long shadow
SINDI Phungula’s future hangs in the balance.
The 23-year-old was implicated in the group copying scandal that rocked the class of 2014, with accusations that she and her classmates at Mpikayizekanye Secondary School in the KwaZuluNatal Midlands cheated during their matric finals. She denies this.
As examinations oversight body Umalusi confirmed that 14 schools across South Africa were being investigated for group copying in the 2016 exams, those implicated in previous incidents of cheating are still waiting to find out what will happen to them.
Two groups of matriculants, including from Mpikayizekanye, have written their exams, but Phungula is still unsure when she will get the chance to rewrite and finish her high school career.
Phungula, from Msinga in northern KwaZulu-Natal, said she and her classmates were told they had been registered for the 2016 exams but their names were not captured in the system and they were unable to write. She is now considering starting matric afresh at a new school, since she is not sure if she will write supplementary exams in March.
She was among 160 matriculants who were implicated in the group copying scandal. In KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, the results at 153 examination centres were investigated by the Department of Basic Education.
In total, 3 000 pupils across South Africa were implicated. While some of the pupils were cleared and their results released, none of the matriculants at Mpikayizekanye were cleared — although only four confessed.
At Mashiyamahle Secondary School in Ndwedwe, north of Durban — another implicated school — principal Zachias Ntanzi was celebrating the results this week. The school obtained a 92.5% pass last year, an improvement from the 74.1% in 2015. But he was bitterly disappointed that his class of 2014 was in limbo because of the group copying allegations still hanging over their heads. He is adamant his school is not guilty of cheating and is fighting the allegations in the High Court in Durban.
“The lives of these pupils are at a standstill. They cannot do anything. It’s a shame. They are stranded and frustrated. There is no tangible evidence that my school was involved in copying,” said Ntanzi.
The lives of these pupils are at a standstill. They are stranded and frustrated
The lawyer representing Mashiyamahle, Jay Surju, said an agreement had been reached with the department to have the pupils’ results released by the end of last October, but it had failed to do so. It was given until the end of December to proceed with disciplinary action against the pupils, which Surju said the department also failed to do.
“We are preparing a court application to compel the minister to release the results,” said Surju.
The KwaZulu-Natal education department’s Dr Barney Mthembu said officials had tried to contact pupils to start disciplinary action last month but were unsuccessful.
“We are planning to have hearings before the end of [January],” he said. He said pupils were invited to write exams last year but he was not sure whether they did.