Matric marking complete: now to capture the data
TodayToday, Friday 16 December, thousands of data capturers start the recording of the raw scores achieved by the 620 000 Grade 12 learners who took the National Senior Certificate (Matric) examinations. It is of course of the greatest importance that the scores be captured accurately, which is why the individuals who undertake the task must have an eye for detail and be very focused. The Democratic Alliance (DA) wishes them well and thank the data capturers for their diligence.
The marking of the examination scripts ended on 15 December. Reports from the provinces about which we were the most concerned indicated the following problems:
Eastern Cape: one marker was dismissed for being drunk. Another marker was dismissed because he or she did not have Matric. This may appear to be minor. It is not. Not every marking centre was monitored and breathaliser tests are not normally used for screening the sobriety of markers. The problem of drunkenness may be much more widespread than meets the eye. That an unqualified marker slipped through is but the tip of a more general and much larger iceberg of incompetence in certain provinces (see below).
KwaZulu-Natal: we visited two marking centres. A member of the South African Democratic Teacher's Union (SADTU) barred our monitor from entering the marking centre in Ladismith, even though he had the necessary clearance. At the large marking centre in Pietermaritzburg (Haythorne School) 20 percent of the markers were first time markers. The standards assessment body Umalusi expressed great concern over the large number of inexperienced markers, doing the job for the first time without being properly tested for their competency.
Mpumalanga: our education spokesperson in Mpumalanga met with the provincial MEC for Education who was under great pressure to ensure that nothing went wrong with the marking process. Mpumalanga is notorious for maladministration. With 17 marking centres that are very difficult to supervise, it comes as a relief that apparenly nothing major went wrong in terms of logistics and the security of scripts. However, the competence of the markers, and therefore the integrity of the marking process, remains a great concern.
Overall, the marking process - an organizational enterprise that is as monumental as an election - went well from a logistical point of view. The Department of Basic Education (DBE), Umalusi and the provincial departments of education must be congratulated for their efforts. The work done by the army of markers who did their job, and the majority who did it very well indeed, deserves much praise.
The most compelling concern that remains has to do with the competency of the markers. Acutely aware of the challenge, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga is introducing marker competency tests in 2012. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) already introduced testing in 2011, in spite of the self-interested and perverse objections of the Western Cape SADTU branch.
SADTU is notorious for using the marking process to get easy pocket money for their members, an interest that corrupts the fundamental principle of ensuring that those entrusted with our learners' future know what they are doing. It was also the raw scores that were inflated by incompetent and unprincipled markers that explains why the 2010 matric marks were so inexplicably high during a year interrupted by the World Cup and a long public sector strike.
Statement issued by Dr. Wilmot James MP, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, December 16 2011
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