SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA

THE Department of Basic Education (DBE) has urged matric learners to register on its website to view their results when they come out on 21 January.

Previously, scores of matric learners would find out their examination results on various public media platforms, most notably newspapers.

However, last week the DBE announced it would ceaseto publish matric exam results on any media public platforms, in order to comply with the prescripts of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), a decision that’s received mixed reaction from the public.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the department urged learners that wrote the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams to register online to access their examination results.

It states: “Candidates will have to go through a two-step verification process before receiving confirmation of their registration. A 13-digit ID number and the examination number will be required for registration.

“The DBE website is zero-rated, which means it can be accessed whether you have data or not.”

It noted that registration is now open.

According to the department charged with SA’s basic education, more than 10 000 people had successfully registered on the site by lunch time on Sunday (16 January).

In the statement, the DBE also reveals it’s received representations from a vast array of organisations and individuals following the decision to stop the practice of publishing the NSC examination results. In addition, there is an urgent court application on the matter, it states.

Eyewitness News reports that lobby group AfriForum, Maroela Media and Anlé Spies, a 2021 matriculant, brought the court application on the matter.

Furthermore, the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) has decried the department’s decision, saying it’s not only unfortunate, but also came as a surprise, as there was no prior warning or consultation with media houses.

SANEF goes on to say the decision has negative financial implications for media companies – which had already, for instance, procured additional printing paper and created the architecture for data sets to be able to publish the results in print and digital form.

The DBE explains: “In handling the matter, the department is guided by the need to comply with all the legal obligations, but in the final analysis, the Constitution commands the DBE to act in the best interest of the learner.

“In a quest to strike this delicate balance of complying with POPIA and act in the best interest of the learner, the department has been engaged with a number of role players, including the Information Regulator and SANEF.

“In view of the latest developments with regards to the release of the 2021 matric results and the impending litigation, the department has decided it will abide by the decision of the court. The department has communicated its position to stakeholders it has engaged, including SANEF and other parties.”

Following news of the DBE’s decision, the Information Regulator sought to clarify how POPIA impacts the publishing of matric results.

The Information Regulator is empowered to monitor and enforce compliance by public and private bodies with the provisions of South Africa’s data privacy law, POPIA.

Speaking on SABC’s SAfm, Information Regulator chairperson advocate Pansy Tlakula said the DBE has a legitimate reason for publishing matric results through various media platforms in order to make those results accessible.

However, if it decides to do that, it must ensure it complies with POPIA. The media platforms must also ensure they comply with the Act, she explained.

“This requires training in advance; it’s not something that they can do two weeks before publishing those results. For instance, the planning will require them to decide which personal information they share with the media – is it necessary to share ID numbers of learners with the media that, in my view, constitutes over-processing of personal information.

“If they want to disseminate the results through media platforms, they must inform all the learners and all the parents of their intention to make matric results available in various media platforms. They must inform them on which media platforms those results will be made available and how the results can be accessed.

“In addition, the department must give the learners and the parents the right to object to the publication of their results in the media and the objections should be considered before publishing the results.”

* ITweb

THE Free State education department has suspended schooling in Qwaqwa due to heavy floods.

The downpours have damaged a large part of Qwaqwa, limiting the movements of residents, including learners and teachers.

According to the spokesperson for the Education Department, Howard Ndaba, MEC Tate Makgoe, together with other stakeholders, will on Monday assess the situation and accordingly advise schools in Qwaqwa whether they will continue with the suspension.

The department says it took this decision to protect pupils, teachers, and non-teaching personnel at schools.

The department further urges learners, teachers, and parents to exercise extreme caution during these devastating floods.

Makgoe, said together with other stakeholders, they will on Monday assess the situation and accordingly advise schools in QwaQwa whether the suspension of schooling will continue or not.

“We are painstakingly taking this decision to protect our learners, teachers and non-teaching personnel in our school,” Makgoe said.

The department conveyed condolences to the family and friends of those who have lost their lives due to this tragedy.

In urging learners, teachers and parents to exercise caution, the department has called on them to stay indoors in case of heavy rain and stormy weather.

Those living in low lying areas, which often experience flooding, are also urged to take extra caution and never try to walk, swim or drive through fast-moving flood water.

“If they must travel by car, they must try to identify alternative routes that are not exposed to flooding. Avoid cross flooded areas. It’s best to stop, turn around and go another way. Teachers who are driving should never attempt to cross flooded low water bridges,” the department said.

People are also urged to watch for washed out roads, earth slides, and fallen trees or power lines.

The department has encouraged parents and teachers to help in emphasising these precautionary measures at home and at school.

CO-OPERATIVE governance and traditional affairs minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has extended the country’s national state of disaster by another month. 

Dlamini-Zuma signed an extension, published in the government gazette on Friday, until February 2022 as the country remains under adjusted level 1 of the national lockdown. 

March will mark two years since SA was first put into a state of national disaster when the first positive Covid-19 case was detected in KwaZulu-Natal.

In a second government gazette published on Friday, basic education minister Angie Motshekga announced that spectators would be allowed to attend school sports events. 

“Spectators at the venue of a sport event are permitted and the number of people permitted at a venue at any time is limited to the number as prescribed under the regulations in respect of gatherings for the particular adjusted alert level at the time.”

Under level 1 regulations, gatherings are restricted to no more than 1,000 people indoors and no more than 2,000 people outdoors. 

“If a venue is too small to hold the prescribed number of people, observing a distance of at least 1.5m from each other, then not more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used, subject to strict adherence to all health protocols and social distancing measures,” the amendment to the regulations read.

She said, “Parents were quite at pains that when there are sporting activities, they drop their kids they can’t really be spectators or only one parent is allowed so again we’ve had to look at that to allow parents to be part of their children’s development growth and also be able to be spectators in the sporting activities which are permissible”.

Minister Motshekga explained that the regulations that will govern attendance at school sport and cultural events fall below the general rules for attendance at gatherings

The last regulations around the attendance of spectators at events were published in December 2021.

Here are the rules regarding the attendance of sporting events. 

Indoor sports venues can have a maximum of 750 people in attendance;Outdoor sports venues can have a maximum of 2,000 people in attendance;If a venue is too small to accommodate these maximum limits, the limit is at 50% of that venue’s capacity.

Every person attending a venue where a sport or cultural activity is taking place must…

Every person, when attending a gathering and in order to limit exposure to COVID-19 must-

(a) wear a face mask;

(b) adhere to all health protocols;

(c) maintain a distance of at least one and a half metres from each other;

An owner or operator of a sporting facility or an organiser of a sporting event must ensure compliance with the limitation on the number of persons attending such a gathering contemplated in sub regulation (10)(b).

If the owner of a sporting felicity or the organiser of the event does not comply with the regulations and are found to have committed an offense, they may be liable for a fine or a prison sentence not exceeding six months. 

If an enforcement office, who is in charge of monitoring Covid-19 compliance at an event, see’s non-compliance he or she may order people to disperse from the venue.

If the person refuses, they can be fined or jailed. 

MICHAEL MUNDZAK and SARAH ELAINE EATON

THE dramatic rise of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has spotlit concerns about the role of technology in exam surveillance — and also in student cheating.

Some universities have reported more cheating during the pandemic, and such concerns are unfolding in a climate where technologies that allow for the automation of writing continue to improve.

Over the past two years, the ability of artificial intelligence to generate writing has leapt forward significantly, particularly with the development of what’s known as the language generator GPT-3. With this, companies such as Google, Microsoft and NVIDIA can now produce “human-like” text.

AI-generated writing has raised the stakes of how universities and schools will gauge what constitutes academic misconduct, such as plagiarism. As scholars with an interest in academic integrity and the intersections of work, society and educators’ labour, we believe that educators and parents should be, at the very least, paying close attention to these significant developments.

AI & academic writing

The use of technology in academic writing is already widespread. For example, many universities already use text-based plagiarism detectors like Turnitin, while students might use Grammarly, a cloud-based writing assistant. Examples of writing support include automatic text generation, extraction, prediction, mining, form-filling, paraphrasing, translation and transcription.

Advancements in AI technology have led to new tools, products and services being offered to writers to improve content and efficiency. As these improve, soon entire articles or essays might be generated and written entirely by artificial intelligence. In schools, the implications of such developments will undoubtedly shape the future of learning, writing and teaching.

Misconduct concerns already widespread

Research has revealed that concerns over academic misconduct are already widespread across institutions higher education in Canada and internationally.

In Canada, there is little data regarding the rates of misconduct. Research published in 2006 based on data from mostly undergraduate students at 11 higher education institutions found 53 per cent reported having engaged in one or more instances of serious cheating on written work, which was defined as copying material without footnoting, copying material almost word for word, submitting work done by someone else, fabricating or falsifying a bibliography, submitting a paper they either bought or got from someone else for free.

Academic misconduct is in all likelihood under-reported across Canadian higher education institutions.

There are different types of violations of academic integrity, including plagiarism, contract cheating (where students hire other people to write their papers) and exam cheating, among others.

Unfortunately, with technology, students can use their ingenuity and entrepreneurialism to cheat. These concerns are also applicable to faculty members, academics and writers in other fields, bringing new concerns surrounding academic integrity and AI such as:

If a piece of writing was 49 per cent written by AI, with the remaining 51 per cent written by a human, is this considered original work?What if an essay was 100 per cent written by AI, but a student did some of the coding themselves?What qualifies as “AI assistance” as opposed to “academic cheating”?Do the same rules apply to students as they would to academics and researchers?

We are asking these questions in our own research, and we know that in the face of all this, educators will be required to consider how writing can be effectively assessed or evaluated as these technologies improve.

Augmenting or diminishing integrity?

At the moment, little guidance, policy or oversight is available regarding technology, AI and academic integrity for teachers and educational leaders.

Over the past year, COVID-19 has pushed more students towards online learning — a sphere where teachers may become less familiar with their own students and thus, potentially, their writing.

While it remains impossible to predict the future of these technologies and their implications in education, we can attempt to discern some of the larger trends and trajectories that will impact teaching, learning and research.

Technology & automation in education

A key concern moving forward is the apparent movement towards the increased automation of education where educational technology companies offer commodities such as writing tools as proposed solutions for the various “problems” within education.

An example of this is automated assessment of student work, such as automated grading of student writing. Numerous commercial products already exist for automated grading, though the ethics of these technologies are yet to be fully explored by scholars and educators.

Overall, the traditional landscape surrounding academic integrity and authorship is being rapidly reshaped by technological developments. Such technological developments also spark concerns about a shift of professional control away from educators and ever-increasing new expectations of digital literacy in precarious working environments.

These complexities, concerns and questions will require further thought and discussion. Educational stakeholders at all levels will be required to respond and rethink definitions as well as values surrounding plagiarism, originality, academic ethics and academic labour in the very near future.

The authors would like to sincerely thank Ryan Morrison, from George Brown College, who provided significant expertise, advice and assistance with the development of this article.

THE case against the publication of South Africa’s matric marks is expected to be heard in court this week after the Department of Basic Education announced the marks will not be made publically available due to regulatory concerns.

The urgent application will be heard in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on 18 January before the matric results are made available on 20 January 2022.

The department has said that it will not oppose the urgent application and will abide by the decision of the court.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Basic Education said that matric exam results will no longer be published on media platforms, in line with the recently introduced Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

The department said that publishing personal information online would be a contravention of the Act. It confirmed that matric results are still scheduled to release on 21 January 2022 and that results would still be available from schools. Historically, the matric results have been made widely available with students identified through their ID numbers or exam numbers.

“In order to comply with the provisions of the POPIA, the usual practice of publishing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results on public platforms (media platforms) will not occur for 2021,” it said.

“As was also the practice in previous years, all learners will be required to obtain their statement of results from the schools they attended. In this way, every learner’s personal information with regards to the outcome of their National Senior Certificate exam will be protected.”

Civil society group AfriForum, Maroela Media and Anlé Spies (a 2021 matriculant) served court papers on Friday to oppose the Department of Basic Education’s sudden decision not to publish the 2021 matric results in the media on an urgent basis in court.

Spies, who sat her exams in Pretoria but lives in Gqeberha, is arguing that it is critically important that she receive her results as quickly as possible so that she can prepare for the start of her university career. She argues that there are several learners who moved or relocated to addresses far away from the schools where they sat their matric exams.

The department has communicated its position to stakeholders it has engaged including SANEF and other parties.

“Meanwhile the Department urges candidates to register on the DBE website to view their results when they become available. Candidates will have to go through a two-step verification process before receiving confirmation of their registration. A 13-digit ID number and the examination number will be required for registration,” the department said.

The DBE website is zero-rated, which means learners can access it whether they have data or not.

The department said that more than 10 000 people had successfully registered by noon on Sunday.

Matric results are expected to be released on 21 January.

Inside Education

REBECCA SIMSON|

MANY newly independent African countries in the 1960s inherited regional and ethnic inequalities in formal educational attainment. These new states bound together sub-national regions of diverse ethnic and religious communities.

The regions differed in their exposure to missionary activity – the main vector in the spread of formal western education in the colonial era.

Inequalities in educational access increased the higher up the educational ladder one climbed. Access to university education was both extremely limited and highly skewed.

As access to higher education determined which people would come to hold some of the most important positions in society, politicians cared a great deal about how higher education spread. Given this context, how did regional inequalities in university access evolve after independence?

While several recent papers have highlighted considerable social inequalities in access to higher education in African countries today, there’s little work that looks at how and why such inequalities have changed over time.

In a recent paper I therefore traced the regional origins of university graduates since the 1960s in seven African countries: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. I constructed a measure of regional inequality for each country and examined some of the factors that influenced this inequality trend.

The results show that regional inequality fell in the first two decades of independence. However, from the 1980s regional inequality remained stagnant or grew across this group of countries. Inequality grew primarily because the main urban metropolises have been pulling ahead, leading to a growing urban bias in university access.

I used recent census data which contains information about where people were born and what level of education they attained. I grouped these people by their district or province of birth, depending on the administrative structure of the country. In Ghana for instance, people were grouped into the country’s ten regions, while in Kenya they were grouped into the country’s 47 current counties.

By grouping people by age bracket, and assuming that most people who attend university do so around age 20, I could then trace how the regional distribution of university education changed over time.

Slow start

University education was slow to develop across these former British colonies. The share of the population attending university in the late colonial era was extremely low.

Around the time of independence, Kenya had roughly 400 university students (1961), while Tanzania and Zambia had 300 students each (1963). The distribution of these scarce educational opportunities was regionally skewed. University attendance tended to be highest among those growing up in the main cities and in the regions with the most economic production (particularly cash crops and mining).

This historical legacy has been long lasting. On average, the regions with higher than average university attainment in the 1960s continue to have higher university attainment rates today.

Trends in access

But the picture is not all bleak. In the first decades of independence there was some catching-up by some of the lower performing regions within each country. The regional inequality trend for each of the seven countries shows that inequality fell in most countries in the 1960s and 1970s. In this period the number of university students was growing quite rapidly. Bursaries for students were generous and governments made some efforts to ensure regional balance.

In the 1980s many African countries ran into financial difficulties. Governments struggled to finance their largely public university systems. During this period, the rate of university expansion reduced. University access became increasingly competitive. This ended the period of regional convergence in university enrolment. Regional inequalities in university access began to grow again.

My analysis found that those best placed to access the highly competitive university system were increasingly those students born in the main cities where incomes were higher and parents more educated. Measures of regional inequality with the exclusion of the capital cities show there was no or very little growth in regional inequality since the 1980s. This shows that most of the inequality rise was driven by the capital city region.

In the 1990s many African countries reformed their university systems again by introducing or raising fees. They also allowed more private universities to establish themselves.

This increased the number of students that could be educated and led to the rapid rise in university enrolment. But from the available data it seems that regional inequalities in university access have remained high or risen further.

Concentrated in cities

There are many reasons for this continued growth in inequality in access. The most important factor is one that’s difficult for policymakers to address. The census data shows that the focus countries have a considerable rate of rural-urban migration.

These migrants are a small share of the university educated. As a result, university graduates are increasingly concentrated in the cities. University students tend to be the children of the highly educated – they’re in turn more likely to gain higher education. This perpetuates the concentration of the highly skilled.

The slightly better news is that because cities tend to be ethnically mixed, the growing urban bias does not seem to have resulted in a sharp increase in ethnic inequality in university education.

In three countries (Ghana, Malawi and Uganda) the censuses also asked respondents to state their ethnicity. Using these self-reported ethnicities, I measured ethnic inequality by cohort.

I found much less inequality growth on an ethnic compared to a regional basis.

Since migration is a major driver of this regional differentiation, this trend will probably continue unless there’s more economic development and more job creation outside the main urban centres.

This implies that the face of Africa’s educational high-achievers is changing.

From a slim educational elite of the 1970s, where most university-educated people had rural or small-town roots, the highest educated ranks are increasingly dominated by people born and raised in the main, multi-ethnic urban centres.

Rebecca Simson is the Research Fellow in Economic History, University of Oxford.

* The Conversation

THE importance of STEM education is in no doubt. Science, technology (including coding), engineering and math skills are vital for our future workforce and any child who excels in one or more of these areas has a bright future.

If your child has a particular interest in STEM subjects or shows signs of special abilities or talents in them, you may be looking for additional activities outside of school to help nurture their skills.

You may also be looking for classes if you are concerned about your child’s progress in any of the STEM areas.

What are your options? There are summer camps and after school programs offered by specialist providers for a start. Your child’s school may offer extracurricular programs, too. A further option is one that your child can do from home whenever it is convenient.

It’s the use of a STEM e-learning platform.

This option offers your child a flexible, personalized course and access to specialist teaching without needing to leave your home.

How a good e-learning platform should work

A child’s experience of e-learning should begin with diagnostic testing. Capturing where a child’s strengths and weaknesses lie means that all online lessons can be pitched to best maximize progress from the get-go.

Diagnostic testing will follow the same format as ongoing assessments throughout the course. It will be fun, interactive and engaging. Data from regular assessments throughout your child’s e-learning course can demonstrate how much and where they are making progress from beginning to end.

This data-driven approach improves the instruction your child will receive because it helps your child’s teacher choose the correct pathway through the learning content for your child.

On a good e-learning platform, your child’s assessment data should be easily visible to you, meaning you can keep an eye on their progress, too.

As for the activities your child will engage in, these will include learning videos, presentations and multiple styles of interactive activities for your child to build and strengthen new skills.

Your child will learn from completing online worksheets that give immediate feedback, and through games and quizzes.

Your child can also meet their teacher online and have the opportunity for direct teaching and discussion with them.

The whole system of instruction, activity and assessment should appear on a friendly, attractive interface that’s appealing to children.

The advantages of an e-learning platform

Here are four of the most significant advantages of this style of learning.

Engagement

All parents know that children are naturally drawn to screens. They love almost any kind of online game and would happily spend hours immersed in technology. Why not put this to good use?

E-learning platforms leverage the enjoyment that children get from electronic games and activities by combining it with powerful teaching and learning opportunities.

Engaging video content and gamification of learning are common features of good learning platforms. Your child is guaranteed to enjoy learning this way.

Personalization

You can pick exactly what you would like your child to learn. You’ll find many of the course options on a good platform are relatively specific.

So instead of ‘computing’, you’ll find courses on app development or coding, for example. It means your child can follow a particular interest or work on something they need special help in.

It could also mean that they get more experience of something they’ve only touched on briefly at school.

The other way these are tailored to the individual child is through the exact course content.

As mentioned earlier, a robust system of regular micro assessment means that your child’s learning can be personalized to suit their progress throughout the course. Two children on the same course won’t necessarily follow the same program of study for this reason.

Accessibility and flexibility

Your child can access their additional STEM learning whenever it is a good time. All they will need is an appropriate electronic device and a stable internet connection. Many students choose to access their e-learning platforms regularly after school or on weekends.

However, the possibilities are endless. They could use a long journey or time spent waiting for an appointment to get stuck into some bitesize learning.

The great thing about e-learning is that it is far easier to fit into a busy schedule than any in-person class or activity. You can easily add extra-curricular STEM learning to your child’s other out-of-school interests like sports and music.

Success

Good e-learning platforms have proven track records of success. This comes from all the points above: personalization, high levels of student engagement and the flexibility of the courses are a winning formula.

e-Learning Industry cited a study by Brandon Hall Group Research that showed students retain up to 5 times more knowledge from an e-learning course compared to in-person teaching. They attribute this to the bitesize nature of the content on e-learning platforms.

5 exciting STEM courses your child can take on an e-learning platform

Coding

Your child can learn C#, HTML/CSS, Java, Python and Scratch. They could be a beginner or learn at an advanced level. Their course would be suited to their grade level and tweaked using diagnostic and regular assessment. Children are encouraged to use their preferred system to solve challenging real-world problems.

Game development

Game development e-learning courses are naturally popular with children and young people. They can use their creativity to build and test exciting gameplay.

3D designing

This practical e-learning course will also appeal to your child’s creative side. They can learn how to design meaningful 3D objects using relevant software.

Arduino

Arduino is a program that helps students develop skills in electronics. They can create circuits, from beginner level to advanced. They can go on to create exciting things like home automation and wearable devices. This will demonstrate the real-world value of their new skills.

AI-aware app development

Students can learn app development alongside AI and create fully-fledged, downloadable apps with a real-life purpose.

The rise of e-learning has opened some doors into the exciting world of STEM.

These subjects are more accessible and more engaging than ever before for students of all ages. You can ignite a lifelong love of STEM in your child and help them develop skills for their future career.

Why not explore the many exciting e-learning options available further?

* elearninginside.com

THE University of Witwatersrand (Wits) has appointed Themba Maseko, former head of GCIS, as director of the School of Management.

Maseko is the department’s new executive director for education. “We are pleased to announce that Mr. Themba Maseko has joined our school as the new Executive Education (Short Courses) Director. We look forward to this new chapter. pic.twitter.com/MtVirMksg0– Wits School of Gov (@Wits_WSG) January 13, 2022.”

A former government spokesman, former President Jacob Zuma was one of the top officials to be applauded for refusing to bid for the fugitive Gupta family, who had great influence in the government.

Most highly qualified officials were either dismissed or dismissed and replaced by more agile officials to strengthen the seizure of the state.

Zuma removed Maseko from GCIS in 2011 and replaced him Jimmy Manyi, a former owner of the now defunct Gupta media outlets.

Maseko testified before the commission of inquiry into the arrest of GCIS during his tenure.

The first part of the report, released two weeks ago, states that Guptas’ first step in seizing control of the state took place at GCIS after Maseko’s ouster.

Guptas, led by Mani, provided funding from the department New Century Newspaper in 2010.

Mr Manyi was right that GCIS was an “enabler department” under his control, but he did not mean that. GCIS facilitated the seizure of the state during Mr. Manyi’s tenure. Were it not for the transfer of Mr Manyi to Mr Maseko, GCIS would most likely have resisted Guptas’ continued pressure on government departments to divert media spending to their businesses, ” the Zondo report read.

Maseko has written a book, For My Country: Why I Whistled About Zuma and Gupta.

NADINE MATHER|

THE Department of Basic Education has announced that the usual practice of publishing matric results on media platforms will not take place for the 2021 results, because the dissemination of learners’ personal information would be in contravention of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).  

But what is the legal position under POPIA? And will POPIA apply to the publication of the matric results?

Before 2014, matric results were published displaying each learner’s name. In an effort to protect the identities of learners, from 2014 onwards, matric results were published displaying only the learner’s identity number or examination number without displaying the learner’s name. It has been argued that a learner’s examination number would not constitute personal information because by removing the learner’s name, the public would not know to which individual learner the marks in question relate. 

For purposes of POPIA, personal information is information relating to an identifiable, living natural person, and where applicable, an existing juristic person. It expressly includes an individual’s educational history, an individual’s name if it appears with other personal information, an individual’s identity number and any other identifying symbol, such as an examination number.

POPIA regulates the processing (i.e. dissemination, sharing, transferring etc.) of personal information. POPIA will not, however, apply to the processing of personal information in circumstances where, amongst other things, the personal information has been sufficiently de-identified. This means that the information that identifies an individual, or can be used, manipulated or linked by reasonably foreseeable methods to identify the individual, has been deleted. For example, where a school advises that 90% of its teachers are vaccinated, and the information identifying the individual teachers, such as their names or identity numbers have been deleted, it may not be reasonably possible to use the percentage provided to identify which teachers have, or have not, been vaccinated. The question is then whether one can use the learner’s examination number to identify the learner? For certain individuals, the answer will be ‘yes’.

The Department, the respective schools and potentially, some family members of the learner concerned would be able to link the examination number to the particular learner.

Members of the public, who are unrelated to the Department, the school concerned or the learner, would however in all likelihood not be able to link the examination number to the learner concerned. 

The processing of personal information under POPIA

In terms of POPIA, personal information may only be processed on limited justifiable grounds.

These grounds include where (i) the processing is necessary to comply with an obligation imposed by law, (iii) the processing protects a legitimate interest of the individual concerned; or (iii) the individual consents to the processing.

Whilst the National Schools Act together with the National Protocol on Assessment prohibits the withholding of results for any reason whatsoever, there does not appear to be a legal obligation on the Department to make the matric results publicly available. 

Further, whilst there may be an argument that the publication of the matric results may be in the legitimate interest of the learners who are unable to attend their schools to obtain their results, this may only apply to a small portion of the learners concerned. In the circumstances, the Department is likely to require the consent of each learner to make their matric results publicly available.

It is for this reason that the Department has advised that all learners will be required to obtain a statement of their results from the schools they attended.

The processing of personal information of children

Insofar as learners are below the age of 18, they will be regarded as ‘children’ for purposes of POPIA. POPIA affords additional protection to the processing of personal information of children.

In this regard, there is a general prohibition on the processing of children’s personal information, unless, for example, the processing is carried out with the prior consent of the child’s legal guardian.

The personal information of children may also be processed if it is for historical, statistical or research purposes, to the extent that the purpose serves a public interest, and it would not be reasonably possible to obtain consent.

It may be in the public interest to, for example, publish the total pass rate of learners or the average of the results relating to specific subjects or provinces. It may be difficult to argue, however, that the purpose of publication of each learners’ matric results would serve a public interest. 

Acknowledging top achievers

It is common practice for the Department, schools and media to acknowledge the top achievers. This ordinarily takes the form of publishing the names, results and photographs of the learners concerned.

When doing so, one will need to comply with the provisions of POPIA and obtain the consent of the learner, or guardian, as the case may be.

This is particularly as a learner’s photograph may constitute special personal information under POPIA which is subject to additional protections. 

Where a learner, however, deliberately makes his or her results and personal information publicly available, for example, by publishing it on an open social media platform, the Department, schools and media will be able to process such information on this basis.

Written by Nadine Mather, Senior Associate at Bowmans

BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday that rotational timetabling will continue when schools reopen on Wednesday. 

She was briefing the media on her department’s state of readiness for the 2022 academic year on Tuesday morning.

While many schools returned to full-time teaching in 2021, smaller schools and those with a high number of pupils have had to retain a shift system due to ongoing concerns around the Covid-19 pandemic and potential transmission.

Motshekga said she is confident the learners will be placed in schools.

“And we have to say up front that we have been able to place the majority of our learners. But provinces like Gauteng, partly Western Cape and some areas in Kwa Zulu Natal, in the urban areas like Durban, we are still dealing with some problems but provinces have assured us that they are doing everything in their power,” said Motshekga.

“We are committing by law that we are compelled to find places for every child so it is not their burden alone but we are committing that we will find places for all the learners.”  

Motshekga said the department was exploring possibilities to return schooling to normal as the call has been made by some teacher unions.

“We are exploring possibilities to return schooling to normal as the call has been made by some teacher unions, parents and some schools. Unfortunately, we have to apply ourselves as education, with the protocols of Covid-19.”

The minister further said, “Traditionally, admissions take a year to process; but invariably, we find that due to a variety of reasons, admissions spill over into the ensuing year. A delay in admissions and the impact on teaching and learning occurs where this should be avoided.”

Motshekga said the rotational roster would continue while the State of Disaster was still in effect and that the number of spectators at a school event would be the only amendment so far: “The amendment is with regard to the number of spectators permitted at school sport venues.

“That is the only change that we intend gazetting once stakeholders have made their inputs.

“With regards to schooling, the situation will remain the same, especially rotational time-tabling, where it was applicable when we concluded schooling in 2021.

“The fact of the matter is that Covid-19 is very much still with us, and we need to continue to work together to fight it.

“We are exploring possibilities to return schooling to normal, but we need to do so responsibly; and to this end, we rely entirely on the advice of public health experts, through the Ministerial Advisory Committee, the National Coronavirus Command Council, and indeed Cabinet. At the right time, we will come back to report on progress being made.”

* Inside Education