Scalo Mahladisa
President General
Congress of South African Students as part of the biggest stakeholders within the Department of Basic Education, arrogantly condemns the late announcement of Matric result of 2022 Matriculants.
We noted with concern the continuing distance between the Department of basic education and that of higher education. This is a concern particularly with regard to post-school education and training. The
unfair and unjust character displayed by both the basic education sector and higher education transpires after the Department speculated that there was a cheating conducted during 2022 final examination, it is for this reason that majority of learners will be unable to enroll nor register with various institutions of higher learning due to this unforeseen occurrences that has never happened in the history of Matric result announcement.
The Matric results of 2022 are to be announced 6 days after Colleges and universities commenced with registration. The Congress of South African Students potently expresses a demand to all institutions of higher learning both Universities and Colleges to at least grand 2022 Matriculants candidates more time to can enroll and register courses of their choice. We further note the barriers that learners face once completing matric and seeking access to higher education. One of the barriers to entry in higher education includes the so-called application Point Scores (APS) which are not nationally standardized nor regulated. These forms of academic exclusion will definitely affect the class of 2022 if not managed properly and that will lead to learners in their majority taking gap years after completing matric.
The release of IEB senior certificate results before the NSC speaks directly to the inequalities we are faced with in the basic education sector. Hence, we are still of a firm view that private schools should be nationalized despite the fact that the IEB is based on the south African National curriculum.
Further more no learner must be denied an access to their matric results statement because of the debt of textbooks, as South African Schools Act (SASA) of 1996 dictates that any learner from quintile 1 to 3 schools must be exempted from paying school fees.
The School Fee Exemption policy articulates that “each school, through its school governing body (SGB), must determine fees and inform parents and caregivers about the exemption policy”, such processes must be followed to ensure that the policy is satisfied to the latter core.
ISSUED ON THE BEHALF OF 20TH NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
