'Matric exam leak highlights weak staff vetting, access control' - National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA

According to the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA), the integrity of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam remains intact; however, staff vetting and access protocols urgently need to be tightened.

The union's remarks come after the Department of Basic Education (DBE) announced a breach during the 2025 matric exams, which involved 26 learners from seven Pretoria schools who admitted to accessing leaked exam memoranda.

The leak, discovered during the marking process, involved English Home Language papers, Mathematics and Physical Sciences.

Markers raised the alarm when several answers matched the marking guidelines almost verbatim.

An internal investigation traced the breach to a department employee who had a child writing matric exams this year.

According to the DBE, the employee obtained the marking guidelines, shared them with their child, and (assisted by a colleague) distributed the material via a USB device.

Both staff members have been suspended, and criminal cases have been opened.

"We know that the exam section is very, very well run, but the eye was taken off the ball in certain places, but the positive is the containment,”says Basil Manuel, Naptosa's Executive Director.

He adds, "Anybody, whether you have a child or not, it's a high-stakes exam, and these are really, really important documents. Everybody should, number one, be searched. You can't take a memory stick into a place like that. You have no business doing that.

"Secondly, they cannot go in alone; they must be accompanied by another official because they have no business there. If somebody has such easy access, then that is the slip I'm talking about. I think that has to be tightened.

"Let's give credit to the vigilant people who are marking, the teachers for picking this up so easily.

"There's such an important lesson to parents who, in various types of incidents, stand up and protect the wrong of their children. Now, here, a parent who is dragging their children into wrong, and that has to be condemned because this fault lies with the parent.

Now, look what he parent has done to the child!"

The accused learners, if found guilty, may have to repeat the year.

To listen to Manuel in conversation with CapeTalk's Lester Kiewit, click below: