Bambazi High School in Bergville. Picture: Facebook
Durban — The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has launched an investigation at Bambazi High School in Bergville into allegations of irregularities in the 2023 National Senior Certificate examination.
This comes after 113 pupils at the school were accused of cheating in last year’s exams which led to only three matriculants passing.
A source revealed that on Monday teachers and parents gathered at the school to discuss the copying allegations. Teacher unions have praised the action taken against the school.
South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza said every pupil linked to the allegations should face the consequences.
Caluza stated that such behaviour played a vital role in damaging the school’s reputation and its management’s credibility. Caluza said Sadtu would await the outcome of the investigation.
“This will be a lesson to all schools. Pupils are fully aware that cheating is not allowed.
“Other pupils committed themselves to studying and preparing for the examinations because they are aware that good performance requires focus,” said Caluza.
National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) chief executive Thirona Moodley said her union was concerned at the high number of pupils implicated in copying. Moodley was concerned that only three pupils passed the NSC exams at the school.
“It would appear that such a phenomenon would be premeditated and this does not augur well for the reputation of the school and the integrity of the exams.
“This points to the department convening a thorough investigation into what exactly motivated the group copying and what has led to such a poor pass rate in the school. What investigations did the department embark on before the writing of the final exams as it would be aware that the school was a poor performance school?” said Moodley.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga commended the 82.9% pass rate, which had improved from 80.1% in 2022, but Umalusi CEO Mafu Rakometsi revealed that 763 cases of cheating were detected in KZN.
KZN Education Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said Bambazi High School’s results are withheld due to suspected irregularity.
In 2014, Bambazi High School was affected by severe storms which ripped off the roofs of some classes. In April 2020 it was torched during the Covid-19 pandemic which destroyed a number of classrooms and learning materials.
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