Basic Education minister, Angie Motshekga, announced today (Friday) that the two leaked NSC examination papers, Mathematics Paper 2 and Physical Sciences Paper 2, will indeed be rewritten nationally.
According to a statement released by the Department of Basic Education on Twitter, the Mathematics paper will be written on Tuesday, December 15 at 14:00 and Physical Sciences on Thursday, December 17 at 09:00.
“This was not an easy decision to take but one which is necessary under the circumstances,” Motshekga said.
She mentioned that the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) considered the preliminary report from the investigation into the leaks for a recommendation to be made on the remedial action to be taken to address the compromise.
“Some of the key findings are that the viral spread of information on the cyber networks made it virtually impossible to accurately identify the number of learners that had access to the leaked question papers.
“We consulted key stakeholders on the matter; from school governing body associations, school principals’ associations and teacher unions to the quality assurance agency, UMALUSI. There was convergence on the need to protect the integrity of the examination and expose the culprits that placed the lives of our learners at risk,” she explained.
“We need to work hard to deal with the human factor in the examination system. It is clear that the people responsible for leaking the papers are adults. The CEM appreciates the work being done by the Hawks. We welcome the arrest that has been made and hope more arrests will follow. We really need to send a strong message that tampering with the national examination is a serious offence,” Motshekga concluded.
