Cape Town - While the class of 2022 is underway with their National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has reported incidents of pupils being in possession of crib notes and cell phones in their exam venues.
According to the Western Cape MEC for education, David Maynier, the exam period is not even halfway, and the department has already received 14 reports.
However, he praised the vigilance of invigilators at the exam venues closely monitoring pupils.
Each pupil implicated in the incident will have a hearing as the matters are investigated.
“Each reported incident will be thoroughly investigated, and the candidate in question is given the opportunity to make representations to a hearing following the exam session. The candidate will also have the opportunity to appeal the finding from the hearing.
“Candidates cannot claim to be unaware of the rules, as they were required to sign a Commitment Agreement before the beginning of the exam session, which outlined the rules of the exams and the consequences of being caught.
“It is imperative that candidates carefully check their pockets for notes or cell phones before they sit down to write, as “forgetting” that they were carrying these items is unfortunately not an excuse,” Maynier said.
He said the pupils implicated in these incident risk being disqualified if they are found guilty.
This could also potentially lead to the pupil being barred for up to three years of future exam sessions.
Maynier said there had been no reports of any exam papers being leaked to date.
He also reminded pupils that any information received about suspected leaks must be reported.
“It is important to stress that being involved in exam leaks can have consequences for other pupils who did not cheat, too, as they might have to rewrite the paper through no fault of their own.
“Please, let us all make sure that everyone has a fair chance in these exams and not do anything to compromise the integrity of the exams.
“Cheating is simply not worth it!” Maynier said.