Exams quality assurer Umalusi is "deeply concerned" about detected cases of group copying in last year's National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams involving 945 candidates, including 763 from KwaZulu-Natal and 164 from Mpumalanga.

Approving the release of the 2023 NSC results in Pretoria on Monday, Umalusi CEO Dr Mafu Rakometsi said, according to reports submitted, these were cases where the candidates displayed common answers and, in some cases, the same wrong and right answers. The NSC results will be released on Friday, a day after the Independent Board of Examinations results.

"These cases are not yet resolved because the numbers are still being verified."

He said another area of concern related to printing errors or poor print quality in some of the question papers.

"There was an omission of a subscript on the formula of an organic compound in Physical Sciences paper 2 in question 2.2 for 3 marks."

He said the Physical Sciences paper 2 in North West had missing grid lines in question 3.5 for six marks.

"The three Civil Technology specialisations (Civil Services, Construction and Woodworking) in both the English and Afrikaans versions had major printing errors in Limpopo.

"The poor print quality in the Civil Services specialisation affected questions worth 60 marks in the English version and 62 marks in the Afrikaans version.

"In Construction questions worth of 31 marks in the English version and 14 marks in Afrikaans were affected."

He said the marks affected in the Woodworking specialisation were 22 and 26 for English and Afrikaans, respectively.

He said besides the printing quality, the translation quality was also something that needs careful attention.

"Due to poor quality of translation from English into Afrikaans, candidates could not respond to questions 3.2.5 and 3.2.6 worth 3 marks in the Afrikaans version of Geography paper 1.

"To mitigate the possible impact of these errors on performance of candidates, the questions concerned were excluded from the marking process and the marks achieved upscaled using conversion tables."

Rakometsi said it was "regrettable" that one of the questions in the Mathematical Literacy Paper 1 naively used the words "mandatory Palestine".

"This was caused by the examiners and moderators being unaware of the political connotations of the words. Umalusi appreciates the fact that the DBE [Department of Basic Education] issued an apology in this regard."

He also provided an update on progress made in connection with the problem of selling and buying of fake and/or fraudulent certificates.

Since Umalusi's state of readiness briefing on the matric exams on 13 October 2023, 11 suspects were arrested by police, including seven in Burgersfort in Limpopo on 27 October and 13 December, and four in November.

Rakometsi said the Hawks arrested an employee of the Department of Higher Education and Training on 11 December for fraudulently issuing a diploma certificate for cash.

"The suspect has been charged with corruption and his court case has been postponed to 19 January 2024."

Professor Yunus Ballim, chairperson of Umalusi's council, said the Department of Basic Education is required to block the results of all candidates implicated in irregularities, including the candidates who are implicated in the alleged acts of dishonesty pending the outcome of the DBE investigations and verification by Umalusi.

"Umalusi is concerned about the recurring instances of printing and packaging errors in question papers and the ongoing practice of group copying.

"The DBE is required to address the directives for compliance and improvement highlighted in the Quality Assurance of Assessment report and submit an improvement plan by 15 March 2024."

Ballim said that the executive committee of council commended the DBE for conducting a successful examination on such a large scale.

A total of 898 520 candidates, including 717 377 full-time candidates, wrote the exams administered by the DBE.

The exams were written at 6 889 centres and the department presented 66 subject results for standardisation to Umalusi.

Ballim said the raw marks achieved by pupils were accepted in 49 subjects while the marks of six subjects were adjusted upwards, and downward adjustment of marks were made in 11 subjects.

These figures show an upward trend in the number of subjects for which raw marks were accepted over the last three years. This is a sign of a maturing system.

The Assessment Standards Committee (ASC) of the Umalusi council conducted an analysis of 511 subject results from the DBE and three other assessment bodies, including the Independent Examinations Board (IEB), South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (SACAI) and the Department of Higher Education (DHET).

He said the SACAI administered the NSC exams in 25 subjects to 5 826 candidates at 103 exam centres.

"After considering all the evidence available at the time of standardisation of the results, the ASC accepted the raw marks for 14 subjects and the results in seven subjects were adjusted upwards and four subjects downwards.”

While Umalusi approved the SACAI results, Ballim said that it was required to nullify the results of the candidates implicated in irregularities.

"Umalusi is concerned about SACAI's failure to inform candidates about the change in the setworks for IsiZulu First Additional Language paper 2 which included poems and short stories.

"Furthermore, Umalusi emphasises the importance of submitting datasets for standardisation and resulting within the stipulated timeframes."

Ballim said 15 186 candidates, including 13 968 full time and 1 218 part time, sat for the exams administered by the IEB at 275 exam centres.

"The IEB presented 60 subjects' results for standardisation and, after considering the available evidence, raw marks were accepted in 48 subjects while upward adjustments were made in 12 subjects and no subject was adjusted downward.”

He said it was noteworthy that, for the first time since 2019, no subject was adjusted downward and that the number of subjects for which raw marks were accepted has been steadily increasing since 2021.

Ballim said that the council’s executive committee approved the results of the IEB but that it was required to nullify the results of the candidates implicated in irregularities.

Commenting on the three sets of results of the exams administered by DHET, he said that 38 022 sat for the General Education and Training Certificate: Adult Basic Education (GETC:ABET) and that results in 26 learning areas were presented for standardisation.

Students' raw marks were accepted in 11 learning areas while eight learning areas were adjusted upwards and seven downwards.

"Notwithstanding the evidence of improvements, Umalusi remains concerned, as in November 2022, about the high number of reported irregularities. The DHET is required to address the directives for compliance and improvement highlighted in the Quality Assurance of Assessment report and to submit the improvement plan by 15 March 2024."

A total of 133 718 candidates wrote the National Certificate Vocational (NCV: L2-L4) and a total of 264 instructional offerings were submitted for standardisation.

Ballim said raw marks were accepted for 170 subjects while 57 were adjusted upwards and 37 downwards.

The N2 and N3 exams were written by 58 190 candidates and of the 57 instructional offerings submitted for standardisation, Umalusi did not standardise Motor Trade Theory N2 because DHET gave an incorrect question paper to 850 candidates who wrote at 98 out of the 100 exam centres.

"It was only candidates at one centre each in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal who wrote the correct version of the question paper. Consequently, the DHET has arranged for this instructional offering to be re-written on 6 February 2024. Thereafter, the results will be submitted to Umalusi for standardisation and approval."

Ballim said that the DHET was required to nullify the November 2023 Motor Trade Theory N2 exam results.