Katlehong matrics in limbo amid cheating claims
Grade 12 learners from a school in Katlehong must wait for the outcome of an investigation into claims of cheating before they’ll know if a question paper should be rewritten.
A matric exam cheating scandal has rocked the Mpontsheng Secondary School in the east of Johannesburg.
The chief invigilator, who is also the principal and Geography teacher, allegedly fed answers to the learners before their exam.
Quality regulator Umaluzi has now requested that the Department of Basic Education intervene and investigate a possible breach of examinations regulations following the incident.
“He went further to talk to the learners about the question that were in the question paper of the Geography paper 1 and it seems the conversation was in regards to him assisting them,” says spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga.
The grade 12 pupils who wrote the exam have now been subjected to an investigation to determine whether they actually received an advantage from the principal’s intervention.
Only following the outcome of the probe will students know whether rewriting the paper will be requested from Umaluzi.
“We are going to do investigative marking. This will establish whether the candidates benefited in some way from the assistance that the principal apparently gave to them.”
Mhlanga says it’s the first exam cheating to be reported and hopefully the last but the educator will face the full might on the law.
“The provincial education department is in the process of serving him with a suspension letter because we feel further need to be taken against someone who threatened exams in that school.”