Education official in hot water over leaked English exam paper

BASIC Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube confirmed yesterday that a Department of Basic Education (DBE) employee is implicated in a leak of National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam papers.

- HOPE NTANZI

Gwarube said the leak involved seven exam papers, which were accessed by learners in seven schools in Pretoria ahead of the scheduled exams.

In a media briefing, Gwarube detailed how the breach was detected and addressed through the department's stringent security protocols.

She emphasised that the incident, while concerning, was an isolated event and that the department's robust systems had functioned as intended to identify and contain the breach.

"Our system has worked exactly as it was designed to do: to detect, isolate, investigate, and address any manipulation of the NSC examinations," Gwarube said. The breach was first flagged on December 2, when markers in Gauteng noticed an unusual similarity between a candidate's answers and the official marking guidelines for English Home Language Paper 2. This triggered a deeper investigation, revealing that several key exam papers, including English Home Language Papers 1, 2, and 3, Mathematics Papers 1 and 2, and Physical Science Papers 1 and 2, were accessed prior to the exam date. These papers had been circulated via a USB storage device, she said.

Gwarube confirmed that the source of the leak was traced to the DBE's own offices, where the exam papers were set.