Matrics fear forced rewrite will cause a drop in marks

South African matrics who have taken the Department of Education to court over last week’s announcement that two leaked exams would now be rewritten, say they simply don’t have it in them to perform at the level they would have been performing at last month.

“My classmates and I don’t have the mental and emotional capacity to pick ourselves up, after this long year, with the limited time available to reach the same level of preparedness,” 18-year-old Unami Bhembe said in papers filed in the North Gauteng High Court this week.

Last Friday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced mathematics paper two and physical science paper two – which were originally written on 16 November and 23 November respectively – would now both be rewritten next week. This after it emerged that the papers had both been leaked on WhatsApp ahead of time.

The department’s announcement has since been met with widespread criticism from pupils and teachers alike.

Three groups of matrics – one with AfriForum as a co-applicant – as well as the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) all turned to the court this week with separate bids to halt the rewrites, but their cases ended up being heard together on Thursday.

ALSO READ: AfriForum, Sadtu in court to challenge ‘fearful’ Motshekga’s matric rewrite decision

“It would be impossible to reach the same level of preparedness by next week as was the case on 16 and 23 November 2020. My classmates and I attended a mathematics and physical science summer school a week before we wrote the first mathematics paper and other extra classes were scheduled before each paper to prepare us for the exams,” Bhembe said in the papers.

“We studied long and hard for these examinations and upon completion, put it behind us. It is unlikely my classmates and I can ever achieve the same marks should we have to rewrite those examinations next week. The likelihood of a lesser performance is far greater than the converse.”

In court, Bhembe and her classmates’ lawyers took aim at Umalusi, the regulatory quality assurance body responsible for issuing matric certificates.

Umalusi has been accused of holding the department to ransom by insisting the exams be rewritten.

“It seems the watchdog, Umalusi, instead of watching first, started biting and that caused the dominoes to fall,” advocate Etienne Ferreira charged.

READ MORE: Class of 2020: Union, dept butting heads over matric paper rewrites

He also pointed to the Covid-19 pandemic and the risks the rewrites posed to public health.

“It is common cause that matrics have been exposed at holiday destinations at so called ‘super-spreader’ events,” he said.

“Classmates, parents and grandparents over the festive season will be at risk, which will have a knock-on effect on access to medical facilities and medical treatment over the holiday period, which will stretch these limited resources even further.”

The question of who exactly took the decision to call the rewrites was a hot topic on Thursday, with the matrics and Sadtu arguing it was the minister, when it in fact should have been the department’s director-general. But counsel for the department, Chris Erasmus, was adamant the decision had indeed been taken by the director-general.

Umalusi, for its part, argued rewrites were “the only appropriate ameliorative action and the only manner of curing the irregularity and protecting the integrity of the examination system”.

“Simply put, given the method of dissemination of the leaked papers, the integrity of the entire examination system has been placed in question,” Mafu Rakometsi, Umalusi’s chief executive, had said in his papers.

ALSO READ: Court compels Motshekga to explain matric rewrite decision

“This is to be differentiated from other, prior instances, where irregularities were discernibly contained to a number of learners”.

Investigations into the leaks are still ongoing and Rakometsi said Umalusi could simply not agree to issuing certificates under these circumstances.

“Especially given the view that the integrity of the two papers has already been irreparably compromised,” he added.

Judgment is expected to be handed down on Friday.

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