The Department of Basic Education's decision to rewrite and the fact that it is now being challenged in court could affect University admissions.
The Department of Basic Education has said that if these rewrites don't take place, the exams would then have been compromised. If the organisations and unions win the court case, it could affect Universities and the students they admit into their institutions.
Universities SA (USAf) CEO, Professor Ahmed Bawa, said:
We would really be listening closely to what Umalusi has to say on this. If the decision of the court changes, we'll engage with Umalusi on how to come to grips with assessment around quality.
In explaining further, Bawa acknowledged that it is an extraordinarily difficult kind of time and issue and said, "On the one hand, one has to feel for those young people who have really been handed a terrible blow here. On the other hand, the issue around the integrity is a very real issue."
USAf depends almost entirely on Umalusi to determine whether the process and the assessment of the examinations is of a quality that is suitable with Bawa saying, "Umalusi plays multiple roles but one of them is to try and ensure that there's an evenness, both in terms of time and place".
Umalusi has said that these two papers needs to be rewritten to make sure that the exam process is credible.
It's a very serious issue that Umalusi has put on the table.
Should it be decided that a national rewrite will no longer take place, Universities will then have to make an assessment of how compromised the exams were. Universities use results from Matrics when looking at who to admit and who to not admit. Maths is one of the rewrites which are set to take place and this also happens to be a major subject Universities look at when deciding on who should be accepted and rejected.
The Department has made it clear that they are not able to track who exactly had access to the leaked papers due to social media and this is why a national rewrite is being insisted upon.
"I would hope that the unions and the other structures listen to reason and listen carefully to what Umalusi is saying on the issue of quality," implored Bawa.
