Afriforum disrupts matric exams with “Black Monday” protest action
The Department of Basic Education (DBE), strongly condemns the timing of the Black Monday protest organised by AfriForum which has resulted in disruptions of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.
The protests resulted in major traffic congestion in a number of areas and has led to learners being unable to get to their examination venues on time. This is a stressful period for learners who were writing Mathematics Paper 2 and Mathematical Literacy Paper 2 this morning and this no doubt has led to unnecessary increased anxiety for our learners.
Contingency mechanisms have had to be put in place in a bid to accommodate learners who arrived to examination venues late. We have instructed schools to allow learners to write even if they arrived late.
All learners who arrived late were allowed into examination rooms at different centers in Tshwane and Sedibeng areas, even those who accessed Centres beyond the one hour cut off time. It is important to note that some learners were also allowed to write at alternative Centres.
Administrative prescripts based on the Examination Regulations will be invoked to address cases where learners missed today's paper because of the blockade. According to information at our disposal, majority of our learners who arrived late, were afforded an opportunity to write their paper and as such and we expect minimal cases of learners who might have missed their paper.
It is completely unacceptable that an organisation that claims to be acting in the best interest of South Africans could consciously compromise the education of learners in such a manner. We urge those who wish to exercise their right to protest to do so in a manner that does not interfere with the rights of learners particularly during examinations.
The NSC examinations is the culmination of 12 years of education and all civil society organizations should work towards making this period as seamless as possible for learners.
In Afriforum’s selfish pursuit of their own agenda they have completely disregarded the rights and best interests of our learners during this time.
Enquiries:
Elijah Mhlanga
Cell: 083 580 8275
