Pupil can write matric exams without ID

Allowance made after Home Affairs debacle

THE Department of Education has assured the Pietermaritzburg matric pupil who attempted suicide out of frustration with the Department of Home Affairs that he would be able to write his exams this week.

The pupil, who cannot be named because he is a minor, tried to hang himself last week after he was told he could not sit for his final examinations without an identity document (ID). He has been waiting seven months for his ID from Home Affairs.

After The Mercury reported on the pupil’s ordeal, a Home Affairs civic services manager contacted the family in an attempt to get to the bottom of the ID delay.

Department of Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said he would ensure that the child sat for his first exam tomorrow.

“There is no child who cannot write because they don’t have an ID. No child will be turned away. We will intervene,” he said.

Mahlambi said the pupil might battle to obtain his certificate of results after the examinations, but hopefully the Home Affairs Department would have sorted out his smart ID card by then.

“That child must go to school and write his exams. The department will contact the family and school to ensure he completes all his exam papers,” Mahlambi said.

The 17-year-old boy tried to hang himself in a field near his Pietermaritzburg home last week. The boy, who was orphaned when he was two years old, was found by his aunt shortly before he put a noose around his neck.

In a suicide letter he left for his family, he blamed Home Affairs.

His aunt, who also cannot be named to protect the identity of the pupil, said they were not given a reason for the delay.

She said that in desperation she got hold of two senior managers at the department, who listened to her woes but ignored her follow-up calls and messages.

His aunt said yesterday that he was doing “a little better” and that counselling by Lifeline Pietermaritzburg was helping him with coping mechanisms.

“We are so grateful to the media, his school and those who are trying to help us,” she said.