The Congress of SA Students (Cosas) remains vehemently opposed to the publication of matric results, and pledged to seek ways to heighten the fight against the Department of Basic Education’s impending publication of results of learners who sat for the 2024 National Senior Certificate examinations.
IOL reported on Wednesday that thousands of learners who wrote matric last year will be able to once again access their results through the media next week.
The Department of Basic Education will announce the results nationally on Monday and the following day, individual matric results will be available at schools and online via official Department of Basic Education platforms.
The High Court in Pretoria, in a matter presided by Judge Ronel Tolmay, on Wednesday struck the application by the Information Regulator (IR) to interdict the Department of Basic Education from publishing the results in the media, from the court roll.
Tolmay found that the IR’s urgency, in rushing to court at the last minute, was self-created.
Commenting on the court’s judgement, member of Cosas national executive committee member Siphiwe Maname told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that the students body will be meeting to map the way forward, in the wake of the court ruling.
“As the Congress of South African Students we still strongly disagree with the publication of the matriculants 2024 results. We still disagree with the court’s judgement. We have scheduled a meeting with the education transformation committee of Cosas so that we come up with a way forward on how we are going to tackle this matter on our side as a student movement,” said Maname.
He said students affiliated to Cosas are against the publication of their results in the media – even without names, and only showing student numbers.
“Publishing the results of students really violates the privacy rights of these individuals. It also impacts their mental health where there is pressure coming from the community, coming from home and students, especially those who did not perform well. We are concerned about their mental health, and we are also concerned about the pressures that come with the publication of these results.
Maname argued that even though the published results would not have names, from the student numbers, people will be able to know specific learners because the student numbers are in numeric order, and students sit accordingly in the exam rooms.
“The school will know who is this number, so there is no privacy still,” he said.
IOL also reported on Wednesday that despite losing a court battle, the Information Regulator of South Africa said if the Department of Basic Education goes ahead and publishes the 2024 matric results in newspapers, the department will be guilty of non-compliance.
The regulator released a statement on Wednesday after the High Court in Pretoria dismissed its urgent application to interdict the national department from publishing matric results in newspapers.
IOL