This year’s matric exams were valid and credible, education quality assurance body Umalusi said on Wednesday in Pretoria.
It found that the country’s matric, adult education and vocational examinations were conducted in line with policy and the results were valid, reliable, fair and credible, said Umalusi chairperson John Pampallis.
”The monitoring of examinations has also received particular attention from Umalusi.
”Three key stages of the examination were monitored: the state of readiness of assessment bodies (the nine provincial education departments and two independent education bodies), the conduct of the examination and the results phase,” Pampallis said.
There were no widespread systemic irregularities in the exam this year, as was seen at a number of high schools in Mpumalanga last year.
A number of ”minor irregularities” reported to the body were dealt with, said Umalusi committee member Brian Schreuder.
These included the Xhosa literature paper for KwaZulu-Natal, which was set from books prescribed for next year.
”As the learners had obviously never set eyes on those books, the exam was not admitted and they were given calculated marks for that paper,” Schreuder said.
The exam papers set over the past two years have been more demanding of learners and less predictable, said Umalusi CEO Peliwe Lolwana.
This is an important element of maintaining the quality of exam papers, Lolwana said.
This year’s matric-exam results are to be released on December 29 by Minister of Education Naledi Pandor. — Sapa