BREAKING: 57 schools in matric exam cheating scandal

DESPITE the Department of Basic Education enforcing strict measures to curb group copying during matric examinations, the scandal re-emerged last year.
The department is yet to conclude an investigation into the 2014 group cheating scandal in 57 schools in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. Last year, the department said it had "put measures in place to ensure that this group copying phenomenon does not occur in the 2015 examinations".
Last week, quality assurer Umalusi chairman Professor John Volmink said it was with "bitter disappointment" to announce that the phenomenon had not been "completely eliminated".
Volmink announced that 26 schools were implicated in group copying during last year's (2015) matric examinations.
The province with the highest number of schools implicated is KwaZulu-Natal with 12 schools. The province had 39 schools implicated in group copying in 2014.
Mpumalanga has seven schools, while Gauteng has six and there is one in Limpopo.
In August, the department announced that it had implemented various strategies to ensure that the 2014 irregularities were completely eradicated. The department's spokeswoman Troy Martins said the alleged group copying was picked up during marking.
"Some of the centres have already been cleared and the number keeps on going down following further investigations, " said Martins.
She said even though the department took the allegations seriously, the alleged incidents can in no way be compared to the events of 2014, which she said showed that the stringent measures put in place were effective.
Volmink said while investigations were under way the results of all the implicated schools would remain blocked. Pupils implicated in the 2014 group copying scandal still have not received their results due to ongoing investigations.
Congress of South African Students president Zama Khanyase said pupils are "victims" of decisions taken by adults and they should not be disadvantaged for that.
"As an organisation we feel the issue of group copying would not happen without the consent of the invigilator or a teacher coming into the classroom to give the information to learners. We believe that invigilators are the ones that are supposed to be dealt with."
Khanyase said withholding the results of pupils was disadvantaging them as they cannot go to higher eduction institutions or look for employment