All eyes are on schools this week, as education bodies and learners prepare for the new academic year. Meanwhile, matriculants prepare for a new chapter after school – as they anxiously await their results.

National education quality assurer, Umalusi, on Monday approved the release of the results for the matric class of 2023. But it also outlined the challenges it faced during the last year’s final examinations. Challenges included printing errors, poor print quality, translation quality and more importantly, copying by candidates.

Umalusi CEO, Dr Mafu Rakometsi, says group copying continues to be a serious concern. 945 cases of copying were found in last year’s examinations.

“These cases are not yet resolved because the numbers are still being verified. Of the total, 763 cases…were detected in KwaZulu-Natal and 164 cases…were detected in Mpumalanga.”

Umalusi council chairperson, Professor Yunus Ballim, noted that candidates who have been implicated in copying and similar irregularities will not have access to their results, subject to further investigation.

“The [Department of Basic Education (DBE)] is required to block the results of all candidates implicated in irregularities including the candidates who are implicated in the alleged acts of dishonesty pending the outcome of the DBE investigations and verification by Umalusi.”

On a positive note, however, Rakometsi notes that the credibility and integrity of the National Senior Certificate examinations remained intact – as “there were no detected cases of paper leakages. No papers were leaked in these examinations.”

More than 890 000 candidates sat for the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations.

The matric results will be released on Friday.

READ ALSO: Nzimande announces R3.8bn funding for ‘missing middle’ students