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Three weeks after the 2021 matric results were released and some former pupils of Qantayi High School in Esikhawini, KwaZulu-Natal, still do not have all their results.
With the academic year having commenced on Monday for some universities, some learners from Qantayi have been unable to formally accept offers from higher education institutions as their statements of results are incomplete.
Mduduzi*, a former pupil of the high school, applied to study at the Mangosuthu University of Technology, the Durban University of Technology and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), and “received an offer from UKZN, but I could not enrol because my [matric] statement was incomplete”,he told City Press.
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Exam quality assurer Umalusi found that matric pupils in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal had “unauthorised or early access” to the life sciences and agricultural sciences question papers, and therefore did not release those results for certain pupils.
For Mduduzi, who told City Press that he knew “nothing about leaked papers”, that decision came at the cost of furthering his education.
The despondent 20-year-old said:
He had applied to study political science, as well as agricultural extension and rural resource management at UKZN – the latter for which he received an SMS containing an offer, which he could not accept.
“I do not understand because I was in no way involved in any cheating. Right now, I was meant to have registered and to be getting ready for the year ahead.”
Ahead of the matric results being released last month, Umalusi chairperson Professor John Volmink said results for pupils implicated in exam paper leaks would be withheld while an investigation by authorities is under way.
Another frustrated learner from the high school told City Press that the situation had left her demotivated as “no one is updating us on how far the investigation is. We are unable to do anything regarding our education at the moment.”
Like Mkhabela, 20-year-old Lindiwe* has been made an offer to study towards a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of the Free State but cannot accept it as her matric marks are blocked.
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She said she was shocked when “I could not find my exam number in the paper when results were released” on January 21.
“I have no idea why they say I cheated. We need proof or something of this crime we are being accused of because I know I am innocent,” Lindiwe said.
“To make matters worse, no one is keeping us updated about what is happening and we have just been left in limbo because on our statements it appears as if we never even wrote the agriculture paper. This has negatively affected our education.”
Lindiwe told City Press that she was aware of “about 16 of us from my high school whose marks have been blocked and I wonder how we were selected from the more than 50 pupils”.
While questions sent to the department of basic education were not responded to despite promises to do so, Umalusi spokesperson Kgaugelo Sekokotla told City Press that the finalisation of the investigations was “dependent on both the department and the implicated candidates”.
He said the results of candidates found guilty of cheating would be “nullified and the candidates given a sanction relevant for the kind of irregularity they are found guilty of”. Sekokotla said:
Sekokotla could not respond to questions about how the implicated pupils were identified, saying instead that “the investigation is conducted by the department of basic education, not Umalusi”.
*Not their real names
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