The Congress of South African Students (Cosas) has threatened to petrol bomb the offices of newspapers that publish matric results, calling this practice an invasion of learners' results.
According to Eyewitness News (EWN), the chairperson of Cosas in Gauteng, Masethembe Maqwaga, said, "We've tried to engage with the department of basic education using our structures, but unfortunately, the voices of the students are undermined. Even the law of this nation can't allow anyone to invade anyone's privacy. So they have completely invaded our privacy without our consultation."
BusinessTech reported that 803,636 learners at government schools sat for their matric exams in 2017. This includes more than 100,000 matriculants who were pushed through to Grade 12, despite failing Grade 11.
Quality assurance body Umalusi told BusinessTech that there was an upward trend in maths and science marks. Marks for physical sciences remained unchanged in 2017, but marks for maths, maths literacy and life sciences were adjusted upwards.