POPI Act means no public matric results, says basic education dept

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) on Tuesday morning announced that no matric results will appear on any public platforms this year. 

DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said this was due to the recognition of the July 2021 Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), which meant the rights of privacy when it came to the collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information of students had to be adhered to and respected. 

“In order to comply with the provisions of the POPIA, the usual practice of publishing the national senior certificate (NSC) results on public platforms (media platforms) will not occur for 2021.”

Visit The Citizen’s matric portal to view your results and see who South Africa’s top performers are.

The sudden change comes just days before the class of 2021’s final examination results were due to be released. 

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said last year the matric exam results would be announced on 20 January 2022, while provinces will then release the results the next day on 21 January.

Learners will still receive their statement of results from their respective schools, but unlike previous years, where matrics would adhere to the tradition of buying a newspaper to get their results, this will be much less ceremonious. 

Updates are expected during Motshekga’s media briefing on the 2022 reopening of schools at 10am.

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