An excerpt from a statement from the Department of Education:
The challenges involving group copying in the 2014 National Senior Certificate examination mainly in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape have been extensively reported on by the media. . Results of the implicated examination centres were withheld pending the outcome of an investigation which we sought to finalise as quickly as possible in order to ensure that the future of the learners would not be severely jeopardised.
Hearings in both provinces were conducted. In the majority of implicated examination centres learners participated in the hearings and a large number of learners confessed to what had taken place. The investigations have revealed that group copying did indeed take place in a number of the implicated examination centres.
In the majority of the examination centres where learners co-operated with the process, the results of these candidates have been nullified but the affected learners will be permitted to write the examination this year during the October / November NSC sitting. There were also learners who engaged legal representation, their hearings have had to be rescheduled to accommodate this and will commence on 31 August 2015.
The total number of centres in the EC where results were nullified were seven and seven hearings have been rescheduled due to legal representation.
This phenomenon of group copying appears to have emerged for the first time during the 2014 sitting of the old Senior Certificate examination but was isolated to the province of KwaZulu-Natal. 153 examination centres were implicated in the group copying.
In the case of the 153 centres, where subjects were audited and where candidates were cleared, their results would be released.
In the case of the subjects that were audited and where evidence of copying has been confirmed, the results of these candidates will be nullified. To further ensure that candidates are not unduly penalised, candidates will be given 21 days to appeal the nullification of their results. Written notifications will be provided to individual candidates informing them of the opportunity to appeal. Appeals submitted will be considered by a panel comprising the DBE and PEDs. On the basis of the appeal submissions, a decision will be made to invite the learners to hearings. Learners that do not submit an appeal within the 21 day period will have their nullifications enforced.
This has been a gruelling process and one that has been a major learning curve for the Department and all stakeholders involved. We have put measures in place to ensure that this group copying phenomenon does not occur in the 2015 examinations.
