There is an uproar regarding the fact that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is hell-bent on publishing Matric results in newspapers despite stern warning to them by Information Regulator (IR) Advocate Pansy Tlakula to desist from doing so.
Two weeks ago, the IR fined the DBE R5 million due to its stated intention to publish the Matric results in newspapers and top of that gave notice to the DBE that she would be going to court on 7 January 2025 to ask the court to stop DBE from publishing the said results.
The IR’s argument is mainly based on the assertion that publication of the results is a violation of the privacy of the learners in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and that the newspapers and the DBE must first seek the consent of learners or their parents/ guardians before publishing their information in newspapers.
At the time of publishing this story, the DBE had not yet responded to Tshwane Talks’ queries which are as follows: 1Why is the DBE hell-bent on publishing the Matric results in newspapers against all odds? 2.Will the DBE carry the costs of publication and how much those costs amount to? 3. Or is it the newspapers themselves who will carry the costs of publishing the results?
Meanwhile, Afrikaaner lobby group AfriForum has come out in full support of the DBE’s decision to publish the results and has unequivocally asked to be included as a co-respondent in the matter whereby Advocate Tlakula will be taking the DBE to court on 7 January this year.
According to AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs Alana Bailey, the lobby group’s stance is based on a court order which was issued on 18 January 2022 in favour of the publication of Matric results in newspapers.
“The court order confirmed AfriForum’s opinion that the publication of examination numbers without names provided sufficient protection of the privacy of Matriculants while also being in the public interest,” said Bailey.
But Information Regulator Tlakula dismissed this very notion in a recent interview, insisting that examination numbers are issued in sequence and that once the results are published, a learner with examination number 8, for example, will obviously get to see and know how her/his schoolmates with examination number 7, or 9 or 10 etc have performed in the examination as they were sitting for the exams in the same room.
“We have outlived an era whereby Matric results were published in newspapers as many of them who used to do so, like the Daily Sun, Pretoria News and City Press are now defunct as print media and have gone online,” said renowned newspaper editor Phalane Motale in an interview with Tshwane Talks on Friday.
“How is the publication of the results going to change the lives of the learners and exactly what purpose is the publication of their results going to serve, unless there are people who have made deals to make money from publishing Matric results, and as we know South Africa is full of many sinister deals,” he said.
“We are against the publication of Matric results in newspapers as this is an invasion of the privacy of the learners, this puts them under undue pressure and ends up with some of them being depressed and committing suicide,” said SADTU Media Officer Nomusa Cembi.
“This practice doesn’t bring any educational benefits to the learners but instead serves the commercial interests of newspaper houses above the interests of learners and their parents,” she said.
“We must weigh the privacy concerns of learners because publishing personal academic results can lead to potential stigmatisation or undue stress on those who may not have performed as well as expected and it is therefore crucial to find a balance between public interest and individual privacy rights,” said Gauteng SANCO chairperson Abram Mashishi.
Mashishi further said the fact that organisations like AfriForum are involved in this matter indicates a wider societal interest in this matter, which suggests that the debate may extend beyond just educational implications.
A Mamelodi resident who identified herself only as Miss M said the following:
“Publication of Matric results is merely an exercise to create an illusion to those who have performed higher that they are more intelligent than others, while in fact they have good retention memory that helps them to regurgitate what was told and repeated to them.”