Learners test marks differ from her academic report

A GA-MATHABATHA learner’s test results for life orientation do not correspond with her 2013 School report.

This was according to her concerned mother, Joyce Montjane, who said she asked the district education circuit manager to investigate this issue at her daughter’s school, but the manager told her that only the school’s principal could report such matters.

Montjane said her daughter, who attends Moleke Mapompale Primary School, did not write any life orientation exams. She said she realised that something was wrong when she attended a parents’ meeting.

“At the parents’ meeting, we received our children’s academic report cards. I realised that only two learners in my daughter’s class passed the exam and I asked to see the test paper. When I asked my daughter why she had failed the exam, she showed me her portfolio and I realised that, according to her portfolio, she did not fail,” she explained.

She said she contacted the life orientation teacher to ask why the marks on the portfolio did not match with the academic report. She said he could not answer her immediately. She then asked to see the teacher’s list of marks for each learner, called a script, and realised that the two sets of marks for each learner was exactly the same for two assessment terms.

“I wrote to the school repeatedly, but did not get any answers. On October 8 last year, the school governing body (SGB) convened a meeting with the principal to discuss the matter. The principal said the learners did not write an exam in the second term and the teacher decided to give them a project to do instead. He could not explain why the marks were identical, but said he would investigate the matter,” she said,

She said at a later meeting the teacher admitted to the SGB that the learners did not write the exam, but could not explain why the marks were exactly the same for each learner for two different terms.

Education spokesperson, Pitsi Maloba, said the department was not aware of this problem. “We will find the teacher responsible for this matter and remind him that he was subject to a code of conduct. Teachers must take responsibility for their actions. We will investigate the matter and deal with the teacher accordingly,” Maloba said.