With more than a dozen incidents of cribbing already reported in the 2022 matric exams, education officials in the province have issued a stern warning to candidates that cheating won’t be tolerated.
In a statement, the WCED said that there have already been 14 reports of candidates allegedly bringing mobile phones or crib notes into their exam venues, in the first half of the 2022 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination period.
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“This clearly demonstrates that our monitoring processes are working, and that our invigilators are well-trained to keep a close eye on the conduct of candidates during the exam,” said provincial Minister of Education David Maynier, adding that each reported incident would be thoroughly investigated and that the candidate in question would be given the opportunity to make representations at 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.”
Maynier said that candidates must carefully check their pockets for notes or cell phones before they sit down to write. He said that “forgetting” that they were carrying these things is not an acceptable reason.
“The candidate risks being disqualified if found guilty and potentially barred from up to three future exam sessions,” he said.
He emphasised that while there had not been any reported incidents of paper leaks to date, learners were still reminded that they must report any information they receive about suspected leaks.
“This was also covered in the Commitment Agreement,” he said.”It is important to stress that being involved in exam leaks can have consequences for other learners who did not cheat, too, as they might have to rewrite the paper through no fault of their own.”
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