The Department of Basic Education has noted the release of the Standardisation Report for the National Senior Certificate Grade 12 examination results by the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training, Umalusi, in Pretoria today. The Department supports the decision taken by Umalusi to release the information, even though this has not occurred anywhere else in the world.
The Department trusts that the matter will now be put to rest and that the suspicions regarding some sort of political interference regarding the increase in the number of candidates who passed the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations will come to an end.
The Department wishes to reiterate that the standardisation of examinations at whatever level is not peculiar to South Africa, but follows international best practice and is a procedure that is carried out across examination systems worldwide.
The Standardisation Report confirms the rigorous process of moderation and standardisation that the Department has built up over the past years. The Department has consistently worked to ensure the integrity of the examinations and to ensure that the results over the years are a true reflection of learner achievement. The Department has an obligation to South Africa to ensure that the examination processes from beginning to end are conducted fairly and without any interference. The report issued by Umalusi today shows that this good practice continues.
The Department respects the independence and integrity of Umalusi. Not only has the Council garnered tremendous experience over the years in doing its work, but the members of the Council are all independent specialists in their field, representing a wide range of academic institutions and organisations. Umalusi has the sole statutory mandate to ensure that the examination results that are released are credible and that all processes have met its own exacting standards.
South African NSC results are not only quality assured to meet South African standards but are also judged against international standards. Umalusi’s report issued today confirms that the standardisation meeting at which the performance in each subject was analysed statistically and qualitatively did indeed ensure that the performance of the Class of 2010 was in keeping with performance in previous years.
The Department is confident in Umalusi’s independent quality assurance procedures that have been in place for many years. The Department wishes to assure South Africans, and particularly the Class of 2010, that the examination results of 2010 are credible and a true reflection of learners’ achievement. The release of the Standardisation Report should now silence the critics and sceptics.
Enquiries:
Granville Whittle
Cell: 072 148 9575
Source: Department of Basic Education
