Backlash at UCT Online High School over NSC exam results and support
Cape Town - A group of disgruntled parents and learners from UCT Online High School have taken their plight to social media, airing their concerns about the NSC exam outcomes, calling for a remark and claiming there was a lack of support given to students.
The parents and learners’ post went viral on TikTok and received 26k views on Tuesday, prompting an independent investigation by the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU).
The school has since kicked back, saying the class of 2024 achieved 566 distinctions and that top performing learners achieved an overall mark average of more than 80%.
But for many learners, this was not the case as they claim they were left to navigate through lessons, which were pre-recorded.
Kenneth Williams, deputy secretary of SADTU, said: “At this stage we are busy with our own investigation and inquiries into the matter, however, this is devastating news for the learners. Sadtu will not stay quiet around the matter.”
Via their website, UCT Online High School said they noted issues concerning discrepancies in some of their final examination marks. The South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (SACAI) is the school’s examination body.
“We are engaging with our examination body (SACIA) around these issues, as well as conducting our own internal analysis,” the school said.
The learners, together with parent Carmen du Toit, said children were left with a massive workload.
Du Toit’s son who was part of the Beacon Hill Secondary pilot project, passed with a Bachelors entry to university, but was not happy with his results compared to his preliminary exams.
“There were always technical issues and the work load was a lot,” she said. Du Toit said the issue came to the final marking of papers.
“We had one learner who tried to commit suicide. The main concern is not so much what happened leading to the exams as many did well in their third term and their preliminary examinations. Our children have been under stress and some have had to receive counselling. The majority of learners’ marks dropped, those that did well in a subject, saw their marks drop.”
The learner said he had received a Bachelor’s pass but that his marks had changed dramatically compared to his preliminary results.
Another parent, who asked for her name to be withheld, said her son failed his exams and did an additional year.
He said he was considering utilising his Grade 11 results to study it at a college level.
“I cannot afford the remarking per subject which is over R200 per paper,” he added.
Darryn Lee, UCT Online High School spokesperson, said enough support was given to learners
“A number of exceptional individuals stand out in our matric 2024 cohort, which include a learner in the SACAI top 3 nationally (who received 6 distinctions) as well as a learner who received the top Physical Science mark of 99% for the SACAI 2024 national cohort.
“Overall, the matric class of 2024 achieved 566 distinctions as a whole, and our top performing learners achieved an overall mark average of more than 80%.
“We gave our 2024 matric class full support throughout their Grade 12 year.
“Support Coaches were continually available to every learner, and we provided direct support through subject-specific boot camps and other forms of learning to allow each learner to focus on those parts of the curriculum that required their attention.”
Lee said SACAI was solely responsible for setting final exam papers, administering examination centres and marking examination scripts.
The Cape Argus reached out to SACIA who promised feedback on the matter.