Scrap ID requirement for exam students

THE Every Child In School (ECIS) is urgently calling on government to intervene in calling out schools or examination centres to stop demanding national identity documents (IDs) for students writing their final public examinations.

Some schools and colleges have been denying undocumented examination candidates entry to examination rooms for failure to produce IDs.

Government in 2020 signed an inclusive new education Amendment Act that ensures that every child has access to education.

It guarantees State-funded basic education, according to section 75 of the Constitution.

The Amendment Act also removes discrimination against every child in accessing this basic need — State-funded basic education.

Section (3) subsection (b) of the Amendment Act guarantees non-discrimination on the basis of: “... imposition of onerous terms and conditions in regard to his or her admission to, suspended, excluded or expelled from any school on the grounds of his or her nationality, race, colour, creed ... or economic or social status ...”

Currently, unthinkable injustice is occurring as Tag a Life International (TaLI) has received reports that students are being denied entry to examination centres for failure to produce national IDs.

This amounts to a lost chance for many students, as not only did they prepare to sit for the exams, but also the financial loss on the struggling parents is unthinkable.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in tough learning environments for many, especially poor students who largely did not access education.

Demand for further conditions for one to tackle the last hurdle in their education journey is not only discriminatory, but also insensitive.

The ECIS campaign calls on government to immediately order schools and other examination centres to stop this inhumane practice and find ways to prove the identity of the students without employing punitive measures.

As stated, the majority of students affected are poor. May this government find it in its heart to stop the further exclusion of the poor who are already widely excluded, who are holding on dearly to life given the current pandemic which has grossly excluded the poor from our education system.