Exam scam forces Richards Bay adult matrics to rewrite

SEVERAL adult matrics have appealed the decision by exam quality watchdog Umalusi that all Richards Bay candidates must rewrite their finals after cases of cheating was uncovered at the local exam centre.

In November, one Zululander said she was outraged that all the innocent individuals had to pay the price for the culprits who participated in ‘ghostwriting’ at the Richards Bay Secondary School (registered as the Richards Bay Library) in May and June last year.

Many of the candidates submitted their appeals, in which they were required to explain why they deserved to receive their exam results, but they are still awaiting response from the Department of Education.

The matrics say they have no idea what to do next.

‘Now that registration have opened for this year, I don’t know if I’m supposed to re-register for this year’s exams. Have I been blacklisted by Umalusi or has my appeal been accepted?’ asked one of the candidates.

‘Everything is at a standstill. The worst part is I’m confident I did really well in the exams. I even checked all my answers as soon as I got home after each test.’

In response to the complaint, the KZN Department of Education on Friday said the matter will be communicated to the District Director. The local venue was one of 153 centres found in 12 KZN education districts where cheating was uncovered by Umalusi.

Investigators reportedly found two sets of answer scripts for the same subject and exam number, but answered in different handwriting.

As a result, the Department of Education issued a letter of non-approval to Richards Bay’s candidates in November.

The centre was also de-registered and a sanction period of one year has been imposed on candidates found guilty.

The adult matric results of the other eight provinces were released in August.

Cheating was also discovered in Ulundi and Jozini.