Cape Town - The Department of Basic Education faced another hurdle in getting matric pupils to rewrite the maths and physical sciences papers after the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) on Sunday called for learners to boycott the national rewrite.
The organisation argued that the rewrite was unfair for the majority of the pupils, who it said did not have access to the leaked papers.
Their call came after the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) announced it would lodge a court challenge today in a bid to halt the rewriting.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshega announced on Friday that pupils would rewrite the papers, a first in SA history.
The DBE national investigation task team had reportedly found about 195 pupils across the country had access to maths paper 2 before it was written.
Of these pupils, 134 were top maths pupils who had been tutored by Stellenbosch University(SU) and if found guilty, action can be taken against pupils including being barred from rewriting matric for three years.
The rewriting for the Maths was expected to be on December 15 while the physical sciences paper 2 was scheduled for December 17.
But Western Cape acting Cosas chairperson Zandile Matyeni said the DBE and the exam quality assurer Umalusi failed to provide valid reasons for a national rewrite.
“We believe that both the DBE and Umalusi have taken a premature decision as they have not even concluded with the investigation into the paper leakage. It was only less than 200 learners out of the 390 000 that may have seen the paper before writing them.
“We therefore call on all matrics to boycott the paper, no scholar left behind,” said Matyeni.
Sadtu's general secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, said an urgent court application to interdict DBE and Umalusi's decision would be filed today.
“The DBE consulted with the unions and Sadtu and the majority of unions made their views known that they were against the decision and consensus was reached. However, Umalusi did not agree and the decision to rewrite was taken.”
Maluleke said the decision has left many pupils and teachers distraught and frustrated.
“It undermines the work of our teachers and learners who worked under difficult circumstances due to Covid-19. Learners are being punished for something that is not of their making as only a few saw the paper,” Maluleke said.
National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) executive director Basil Manuel, said the decision to order a national rewrite of the two papers was an overreaction.
“We would have been comfortable with rewrites being ordered in those schools where the Investigation Task Team had definite evidence that pupils had been in possession of the papers.
But to place additional pressure on the thousands of matrics who had nothing to do with the leaked papers, in a year they had to endure so many obstacles and hardships, is just indefensible,” said Manuel.
Stellenbosch University (SU) spokesperson Martin Viljoen confirmed that staff members in the Faculty of Education informed the DBE of what it perceived to be irregularities with regard to the written assessment for the Maths 2 Paper.
Van Wyk said the accused was arrested at about 7.45pm on Wednesday. “He appeared in court and the docket is still at court.”
According to a neighbour, the 12-year-old had managed to escape following the traumatic ordeal.
“The poor child was frantic and crying. I managed to calm her down and she told me what happened and who hurt her. I informed other residents who assisted in looking for him and we apprehended him.
“He denied the incident but we know a child cannot lie about something this serious.
“Police were called and he was arrested. As residents we are tired of crime and rape.
“A strong message must be sent by the justice system so that we can see change in our communities. Something needs to be done differently,” the neighbour said.