2023 Examinations Readiness: DBE briefing

Meeting report

Opening comments
Apologies were noted from the Minister of Basic Education who was attending a cabinet meeting; the Deputy Minister who was visiting a school in Kimberly. The Director General is in the Eastern Cape visiting projects and experiencing network challenges but will be joining the meeting at a later stage. Dr Barney Mthembu, Deputy Director-General for Curriculum, had been appointed to lead the delegation. Mr Mathanzima Mweli, DBE Director General, who was briefly present, delegated officials to make the presentation.

Learner Readiness for National Senior Certificate Exam
Dr Bulara Monyaki, DBE Chief Education Specialist, noted that DBE has supported the provinces to understand the challenges faced by the Class of 2023 so that they strengthen learner support. The profile of the Class of 2023 is that they suffered from the COVID-19 disruption and thus faced numerous changes and challenges throughout their curriculum such as trimmed curriculum, reduction in the number of content subjects, rotational attendance, amended assessment requirements and the cohort was not fully exposed to standardized examinations in grade 10 and 11.

Dr Monyaki explained the support that was provided in grades 10, 11 and 12 learner support implemented by the provinces. These included: Extended Hour Programme - morning and afternoon classes; LTSM – soft and hardcopies of study guides, electronic textbooks, notes, concepts banks, worksheets; reintroduction of June Exams; ICT Support; Online Lessons- live streaming of virtual lessons; Telematics videos; Radio lessons; Teacher development workshops – face to face and virtual; Autumn, winter and weekend classes.

DBE grade 12 learner support measures include annual teaching plans revised and mediated for all subjects and, reintroduction of June examinations to expose and prepare learners for end-of-year examinations, study guides have been developed to help address learning losses and content gaps from previous grades as well as remote digital learning projects like Tswelopele and Woza Matric during the 2023 June/July holiday programme to offer supplementary learning support programme that could help learners.

The provinces also organised face to face support programmes for grade 12 learners through autumn and winter vacation classes. The purpose was mainly for revision of the work already covered from school and in some cases teaching new content to be covered in the next term.

The statistics of the take-up of these digital and face-to-face support programmes were provided.

Examination System Readiness
Dr Rufus Poliah, DBE Chief Director: National Assessment and Public Examinations reported that the national examination and assessment system has evolved over the years to a significant level of maturity. The DBE currently manages two equal examination opportunities in May/June and October/November.

Examinations and are ready for hand over to PEDs for printing. In preparation for the conduct of the 2023 examination, the DBE listed non-negotiables which include full security compliance at printing sites and 100% compliance on all storage points. DBE is working closely with the State Security Agency to audit the sites where printing is taking place. Seven of the nine printing sites have been audited except for North West and Free State which is scheduled for late September. The briefing looked at printing, packing, storage and distribution of exam papers; provincial breakdown of exam centre numbers; training of invigilators; marking and quality assurance; mark capturing; audit of storage points; monitoring of exam; management of irregularities.

Discussion
The Chair commended DBE for the detailed presentation noting that it was an eye-opener to see the management of the department's ever-improving ways of broadening education and learning by introducing ICT tools to improve itself. This is important because it reaches children out of reach, especially the Woza Matric YouTube programme.

On the exam paper leakage risk, the Chairperson said he found the prospect of leakage heart-breaking because this affects and discourages innocent students. On auditing using State Security Agency, the Chair proposed printing sites to be audited as it is relatively important. The Chair also asked about the outstanding sites in Northern Cape and Free State and their outcomes.

Mr I Nsube (ANC, Free State) commended the insightful and detailed report. He asked about the reason for the delay in auditing the Free State and the North West printing sites.

Mr Nsube asked if the learners were attending the intervention support and autumn and winter classes in large numbers. Referencing slide 114 of the presentation, 72% of the learners had not yet applied for financial assistance for entering tertiary education because NSFAS opens very late in the year. He asked why there is not a coordinated strategy between DBE and NSFAS to apply already for financial assistance for tertiary education.

Ms D Christians (DA, Northern Cape) referred to the teacher intervention and asked why the Northern Cape was excluded in the report. She questioned if there was consequence management for low teacher participation and asked DBE to clarify the consequences to address this and ensure teacher engagement, especially in the Northern Cape that had not reported anything.

She asked how study guides were developed and who were the key partners, how they complement the prescribed textbooks, how DBE ensured that the deep rural areas accessed and printed physical copies of the study guide especially due to poor internet connectivity. She sought clarity on the operation of the WhatsApp line. DBE should provide a better explanation on how the communication and information sharing unfolds via WhatsApp from the initial contact by the learner and the time taken to the actual resolution of the learner's inquiry and its effectiveness.

Ms Christians referred to the 9.5% of the centres that were non-functional and asked where they are located. What about the learners attending these non-functional centres? DBE should explain the monitoring plan for the non-functional centres during the spring classes. She asked for a breakdown of the scribes and readers for learners with special needs in provinces which could be provided in writing after the meeting. She asked how often are they verified especially those who work with minors,

Ms Christians requested more information on the signing of the pledge ceremony and if Committee members can attend such ceremonies in their province.

Mr M Bara (DA, Gauteng) thanked the presenters for the detailed report. He asked for an update on the final stage of readiness and the audit of high-risk centres such as two remaining printing sites in North West and Free State.

DBE response
Dr Poliah said that the leaking of exam papers is DBE's greatest nightmare and their main focus is to avoid any leaking. Over the years there has been no leaking of exam papers such as 2021 and 2022. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic exam papers leaked. In 2022 there was group copying in certain schools where teachers and adults assisted learners. In 2021 a security envelope was opened and the exam paper given to a teacher to work out answers for the learners at a school. Although prior access does not equate to leaking, any kind of access is a cardinal error and DBE is doing its best to avoid it. Although they put effort into avoiding this from happening, the human factor needs to be controlled. To minimise this from happening, DBE conducts audits. It is aware of and records every individual that handles the question papers . There is a commitment agreement for learners and teachers, pledge signing as well as hotlines to instil the important value of honesty among learners.

On the outstanding printing site audits, the Free State has now been audited but there is further delay in the North West because it has moved its printing operation from Gauteng to setting up its internal printing machinery in the province. The date set for the State Security Agency to audit North West is 17 October 2023. He assured the Committee that before the printing starts, DBE thoroughly audits and gives clearance.

DBE will make available the breakdown of scribes and readers to the Committee. He agreed with Ms Christian’s point about the suitability of the individuals who work with minors. He assured her that DBE will look at that closely but said these individuals are firstly qualified to accomplish the task. They come based on a recommendation from the schools and only after this is established and a screening process is done, do they get added to the database. Scribes and readers are not alone in a room with the candidate as an invigilator is present.

On pledge signing, Dr Poliah welcomed the support from the Committee members saying that their presence would add value giving it the clout and status it will require. The pledge signing ceremony will be conducted on 20 October, the week before the examinations begin on 30 October 2023. Committee members can identify schools they would like to be part of and DBE can arrange for them to participate in the pledge signing. The Minister, Deputy Minister, Director General and senior officials would also be attending.

On ensuring final state of readiness, Dr Poliah said that it is extensive. DBE sends out a self-evaluation instrument and every province responds to the questions where DBE has an evaluation of every district looking at the readiness of a province. Thereafter, DBE focuses on virtual meetings where a province submits the state of readiness of every district. Secondly, a two-day face-to-face engagement with the province is conducted by going through a self-evaluation instrument. Having completed Free State, all provinces are ready to administer exams. The Director General is aware of some issues but DBE is working on them.

High-risk centres are those that have faced irregularity in previous years, those that are conducting matric for the first time and at times independent schools ensuring that these are being closely monitored.

Dr Mthembu added that there are also risks of community protests that could hamper the state of readiness as protesters can take advantage of the examinations.

Dr Monyaki replied that there was great learner attendance during autumn and winter. He referred to the presentation that noted more than 77% of the centres registered between 80-100% learner attendance. The Northern Cape support measures for teachers in the presentation was based on the submissions made in the evidence-based report thus the evidence was based on reporting and required a minimum of 20% impact thus if the support measure is rolled out it should have an impact of the minimum of 20% of the entire population. The Northern Cape fell short of many support measures.

On the study guides, a team comprising specialists from DBE from every province and teachers developed the study guides. The subject experts have a sit-down and writing session and once the draft is made available then it is made available for public comment. Previously where funds were available they handed out hard copies to all provinces but because of financial constraints they provide soft copies and upload them on the DBE website. Provinces then target rural areas and print for those centres that need support.

Dr Mthembu handed over to the Director General.

Mr Mathanzima Mweli, DBE Director General, commented on the security of exam papers and said that the human element is always its weakness. However, he assured the Committee that they are trying everything in their human power to tackle this.

He addressed attendance and said that he attended camps in the Northern Camp and teachers attended in their numbers therefore Northern Cape failed to provide the information when it was required. He remarked that the state of readiness has evolved in many ways.

The Chairperson thanked DBE for their detailed report and stressed the importance of the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.