Umalusi, the Quality Council for General and Further Education and Training, has given the Department of Basic Education the green light to release the November 2020 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results.
At a media briefing, Umalusi Council Chairperson, Professor John Volmink said: “The executive committee is satisfied, based on available evidence, there were no systemic irregularities reported which might have compromised the overall credibility and integrity of the November 2020 NSC examination administered by the Department of Basic Education.
“The executive committee of the council approves the release of the November NSC examinations based on evidence that the exam was conducted in accordance with the examination policies and regulations, irrespective of the generally identified irregularities.”
The NSC exam started on November 5. The examinations were due to conclude on December 15, but due to the leakage of two exam papers, mathematics paper 2 and physical science paper 2, which had to be rewritten, the exams concluded days later.
Volmink acknowledged the November NSC 2020 exams were marked with “unfortunate” incidents but said a task team was set up by the DBE to investigate the leaked papers.
“The council noted isolated generally identified irregularities reported in the marking and writing of the exams reported in four provinces involving 893 candidates.
“The DBE should block the results of candidates implicated in the group copying generally identified irregularities pending the outcomes of the investigations and Umalusi certification,” he said.
Volmink said the paper leaks were not identified as systemic irregularities which means that there were malpractices that compromised the integrity of the examinations at a large scale.
Over one million candidates wrote the 2020 November NSC exams of which 766 598 were full-time pupils, 120 849 were part-time and 168 0885 were amended candidates.
Umalusi also noted that this year’s grade 12 pupils were the seventh group to write under the Caps system. It also noted the Class of 2020 were the first cohort to write and be assessed under stringent health and safety regulations due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The council urged the DBE to tighten its security measures in all areas to ensure no leakages but commended the department for having conducted successful and credible NSC examinations.