The Pretoria high court has ruled against the department of basic education’s decision not to publish matric results in the media. Photo:Wesley Fester
Matric 2021 National Senior Certificate results must be published in all media platforms, the Pretoria high court has ruled.
A part of the ruling states that the publication of results should not reflect the first names and surnames of the pupils. The publication of the results will go as it did in 2020 where the results were published in accordance to exam numbers.
The judgement comes after civil society group Afriforum approached the court to oppose the department of basic education’s (DBE) decision against publishing the matric results, due to be released on January 21.
The DBE announced last week that matric exam results would no longer be published on any media public platforms in order to comply with the requirements of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). The law which came into effect on July 1 last year provides clear rules for the safeguarding of personal information.
“The usual practice of publishing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results on public platforms (media platforms) will not occur for 2021,” DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said in a media statement.
“As was also the practice in previous years all learners will be required to obtain their statement of results from the schools they attended. In this way, every learner’s personal information with regards to the outcome of their national senior certificate exam will be protected.”
AfriForum welcomes the court ruling by Judge Millar today in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that granted the organisation’s order unchanged. The organisation is confident that the matric results can be published on Thursday 20 January and that former matriculants will be able to get their results in the newspapers and on media platforms.
“It is in the public interest that this information is shared on public platforms and that is one of the reasons why we brought this application. We are delighted that the court agreed with us in this argument,” says Natasha Venter, Manager of Education Rights at AfriForum.
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