Pretoria - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshegka has no intention of adjusting the 2010 matric results and they will be a true reflection of learners' achievement, says the department's Granville Whittle.
Responding to media reports that the minister will consider adjusting the results, Whittle said the minister had no intention, authority or mechanism to adjust the marks. He added that the claims were damaging and mischievous.
Instead, the results will be credible and an authentic reflection of learners' achievement.
Only the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) has the statutory mandate to ensure that the examination results that are released are credible and that all processes have met its own exacting standards.
"South African NSC [National Senior Certificate] results are not only quality assured to meet South African standards, but are also judged against international benchmarks," said Whittle.
On 24 December 2010, Umalusi will convene the standardisation meeting at which the performance in each subject will be analysed statistically and qualitatively to ensure that the current performance is in keeping with performance in previous years.
Thereafter, on 30 December, Umalusi will convene a meeting to approve the NSC results and will hold a press conference where a declaration on the integrity and credibility of the results will be made.
"The approval is based on reports from various quality assurance initiatives focusing on the examination system. Special attention is paid to irregularities that may compromise examinations," added Whittle.
Meanwhile, the examinations, which draw to a close this week, have been running smoothly compared to last year, where a number of papers were leaked. Strict security measures have ensured that there were no incidents this year.
More than 642 000 candidates enrolled for this year's exams, making it the largest number in years.
The results will be released to the public on 6 January 2011.
