Teachers found to have colluded with nearly 1300 cheating Eastern Cape matriculants could face criminal charges, the national Department of Basic Education warned yesterday.
This was in addition to teachers found guilty being fired, suspended or warned.
The 1297 matriculants allegedly involved in the scandal might be banned for three years from writing again if found guilty of cheating.
Speaking at a media briefing at the Stirling Education Institute yesterday, national department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said the department, Umalusi and the provincial education department were working together to uncover the alleged cheating scandal and teachers found to be involved could face charges of fraud.
Mhlanga said a team of investigators from the three government institutions had met teachers and principals from the affected schools at the institute to find out what had happened.
“We are looking into criminal charges against those found guilty,” he said. “There seems to be…well orchestrated collusion in both the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where someone, somewhere, gave out something or a document,” he said – but denied that exam papers had been leaked. The investigators would also visit affected districts including East London, Queenstown, Mthatha, Libode, Mount Fletcher, Ngcobo, Lusikisiki and Dutywa. Affected teachers had not been served with precautionary suspension letters yet.
Mhlanga said the cheating was picked up on when pupils were found to have submitted the same answers.
Investigators were probing 14 centres which were allegedly implicated in the cheating scandal. Late last year Umalusi announced that 19 centres in the province had been affected, but seven had since been cleared. Mhlanga said matriculants found to have cheated would be banned for three years from sitting for exams.
Currently, the minimum sanctions include a year or two-year ban or a rewrite of the exams. These were instituted in cases where a pupil had been found with crib notes.
Eastern Cape education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani said pupils from two schools in the Ngcobo district were implicated in cheating across all subjects. He said affected subjects at other schools included maths, physics, life sciences, accounting, history, geography and English. — msindisif@dispatch.co.za
Teachers in scandal may face criminal charges
This was in addition to teachers found guilty being fired, suspended or warned.
The 1297 matriculants allegedly involved in the scandal might be banned for three years from writing again if found guilty of cheating.
Speaking at a media briefing at the Stirling Education Institute yesterday, national department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said the department, Umalusi and the provincial education department were working together to uncover the alleged cheating scandal and teachers found to be involved could face charges of fraud.
Mhlanga said a team of investigators from the three government institutions had met teachers and principals from the affected schools at the institute to find out what had happened.
“We are looking into criminal charges against those found guilty,” he said. “There seems to be…well orchestrated collusion in both the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where someone, somewhere, gave out something or a document,” he said – but denied that exam papers had been leaked. The investigators would also visit affected districts including East London, Queenstown, Mthatha, Libode, Mount Fletcher, Ngcobo, Lusikisiki and Dutywa. Affected teachers had not been served with precautionary suspension letters yet.
Mhlanga said the cheating was picked up on when pupils were found to have submitted the same answers.
Investigators were probing 14 centres which were allegedly implicated in the cheating scandal. Late last year Umalusi announced that 19 centres in the province had been affected, but seven had since been cleared. Mhlanga said matriculants found to have cheated would be banned for three years from sitting for exams.
Currently, the minimum sanctions include a year or two-year ban or a rewrite of the exams. These were instituted in cases where a pupil had been found with crib notes.
Eastern Cape education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani said pupils from two schools in the Ngcobo district were implicated in cheating across all subjects. He said affected subjects at other schools included maths, physics, life sciences, accounting, history, geography and English. — msindisif@dispatch.co.za
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