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Information Regulator bans publishing of matric results

todayNovember 20, 2024 88

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Education activist, Hendrick Makaneta, says the move to ban the publishing of matric results is a significant step towards protecting the privacy of learners.

The Information Regulator says the Department of Basic Education will now have to obtain permission from parents before publishing the results.

For decades, the South African tradition saw all matric pupils who have passed their National Senior Certificate examinations published in the newspaper.

Candidates, families, and friends would rush to filing stations early in the morning to purchase the newspaper and gather around it, looking for their names.

The Department of Basic Education has over the years moved from publishing names to exam numbers.

However, now this violates the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popi Act) and Makaneta believes it exposed learners to unnecessary pressure and embarrassment.

The regulator says it’s important that the government creates a system for consent.

Information Regulator’s advocate, Collen Weapond, says they also have a problem with the sequential order of examination numbers, which has also made it easy for pupils to identify each other.

“Some learners in a particular school would know and identify some of the other learners because of the sequence the department uses when the examination numbers and seating arrangements are designed.”

According to the Popi Act, the exam number must be de-identified in a manner that it is not re-identifiable.

Weapond says the regulator’s priority is the safety and the privacy of learners.

He added that the regulator has been in contact with DBE over the past two years and made their position clear. However, engagements yielded no results.

 

Written by: Lindiwe Mpanza

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