Two Basic Education officials suspended over matric exam leaks

Two Basic Education Department officials have been suspended with immediate effect, on suspicions of leaking three matric exam papers in Pretoria. This was revealed by the department minister, Siviwe Gwarube, during a media briefing in Parliament, Cape Town. Gwarube says the breach was detected at the department offices where the papers were set, through the system’s stringent marking processes. According to the minister, the national department was alerted by the Gauteng Department of Education, to an unusual similarity between the answers provided by a candidate with the answer provided in the marking guideline for English Home Language Paper 2.The Minister said a preliminary investigation was launched and established that the breach extended to other papers.“The team began interviewing the first group of learners whose scripts were flagged and later expanded the interviews to additional learners likely to have been exposed to the material. A total of 26 learners were identified for interviews by the National Department of Basic Education.The learners interviewed admitted having prior access to both the English Home Language Paper 2 question paper and the marking guideline,” said Gwarube.Additionally, the minister said their investigations determined that the question paper originated from the National Department of Basic Education’s offices, and further investigation revealed that the breach extended beyond a single paper.