Still no matric results
The lives and future of 150 matriculants have been put on hold yet they get no clear answers to their questions
ABOUT 150 matriculants’ lives and futures have been put on hold, due to the fact that their results haven’t been released.
And that’s due to no fault of those who sat the examinations – they did nothing wrong. They paid their fees to the Alberton Matric Project; they studied, wrote the exams and to date, no results except for Afrikaans have been released.
The latest development is that their results will only be made available at the end of February. That means these matriculants can’t finalise their registrations at tertiary institutions.
Parents, who mostly wish to remain anonymous, are up in arms. One told the RECORD that her son can’t even apply to join SAPS, since the applications close on January 26.
Marais Viljoen, from which the Alberton Matric Project runs, notified the parents via SMS that: “The way forward regarding redoing of some of the SBA’s will be discussed with you. Please refrain from contacting the school or individuals as it will not have any effect whatsoever on the releasing of the marks.”
Why School Based Assessments (SBA’s) need to be redone, remains a mystery. In very vague answers to the RECORD’s questions posed to the Gauteng Department of Education, one can gather that the outcome of their investigation is pending and therefore the delay.
READ: No results are forthcoming
Some parents are of the opinion that there were learners who took seven subjects, which is not allowed at an evening school. “They’re only allowed to take five subjects,” the parent said. “How and why that happened we don’t know. But this is no fault of those writing matric. They did nothing wrong. If they passed, whether with five or seven subjects, they deserve to know. They deserve their results, in order for them to carry on with their lives,” a clearly frustrated parent said.
“Why punish the exam candidates if the school is in the wrong? Give them their results. The department can finish their investigation and then make a decision as to what should happen to those at fault – which is clearly not the learners,” is the opinion of another parent.
The RECORD again posed questions to the Department of Education, demanding clear answers as to what the problem is – and in which aspects the Alberton Matric Project didn’t comply with regulations? No comment has been forthcoming yet.
Management of the Alberton Matric Project blames the department and the Department of Education blames the project – all this while these learners are stuck in the middle, with their futures hanging in the balance.
In the previous article (published in the RECORD of January 19), it was said that the management of the project must review the Internal SBA’s. The management of the project told the RECORD that they had an inspection on October 18, 2016 from the Department of Basic Education to check their SBA’s – and didn’t receive feedback until this year (2017).
“The reason for all of this, is due to part-time matric learners having seven subjects and according to the system, they can’t have seven and finish matric within a year,” said the management. “The Alberton Matric Project has been running for five years, to give back to the community by providing learners with a second chance to write matric.”
The management assured the RECORD that they will review and modulate their SBAs as soon as possible, which will lead to the release of their results.
In another effort to set up an appointment with Martie Heystek, the prinicpal of Marais Viljoen, the RECORD was told that she was told by the Department, that she’s not allowed to speak to the media and that the story is busy dying down – because the matriculants now know they will receive their results in February.
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