Matric exam results will not be published anymore
Matric exam results for the class of 2021 will not be shared on social media platforms, News24 reported.
Citing the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the Department of Basic Education informed media houses of the decision on Monday, 10 January.
“In order to comply with the provisions of the POPIA, the usual practice of publishing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results on public platforms (media platforms) will not occur for 2021,” the department’s notice said.
The change will see results made available at schools rather than shared on public platforms.
“As was also the practice in previous years, all learners will be required to obtain their statement of results from the schools they attended,” the department added.
“In this way, every learner’s personal information with regards to the outcome of their National Senior Certificate exam will be protected.”
South African education experts have warned that 2021’s matric results are likely to be worse than in 2020, despite the drop in pass rate observed for 2020’s results.
In 2020, the overall matric pass rate was 76.2% — substantially lower than the previous year’s 81.3%.
The drop was attributed to several factors, particularly the disruption of classrooms resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, with school activities picking up again in 2021 due to eased lockdown measures and fewer disruptions at schools, DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga has said that this year’s matrics could perform better.
Mhlanga provided an alternative analysis to Basil Manuel, managing director of education union Naptosa, who said he would be stunned if 2021’s matric pass rate surpassed 2020’s.
Manuel explained most of this year’s matrics would have been in grade 11 in 2020 and would not have caught up sufficiently to do well in their exams.
Additionally, load-shedding during the end-of-year exam period in 2021 made matters difficult by restricting learners’ total study time and impacting the writing of exams.
The national matric results for learners in public schools are set to be announced on 21 January 2022. The Independent Education Board (IEB) will reveal results for matrics in the private schools on 19 January.
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