Matric papers could be marked electronically from next year. This was mentioned by Dr Rufus Poliah, chief director at the Department of Basic Education (DBE), in Parliament, on Tuesday.
The department was giving a report on its readiness for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations, as well as the Annual National Assessments.
Democratic Alliance shadow minister of education Annette Lovemore confirmed Poliah mentioned the possibility of e-marking, and says the department is looking to start piloting it next year. However, no further information is available yet. "I will be putting questions to the department to find out more about the possibility of e-marking and how exactly it will work," says Lovemore.
The NSC examinations are set to kick off in 46 days and more than 100 000 Grade 12 learners will be writing. Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in education, could not provide the exact number of marking centres for the 2013 NSC examinations, but it is expected to be roughly the same as last year when 39 039 markers graded papers at 118 marking centres.
According to Lovemore, the DBE has struggled to find marking centres that are big enough to allow them to reduce the number of centres. "Obviously, a bigger number of centres are more difficult to properly monitor."
She says while there have not been reports of irregularities at the marking centres, security and monitoring of the marking process is always a concern. She notes that if e-marking is feasible and improves the security of the process, it could be a positive initiative.
In a parliamentary committee briefing by Umalusi and the DBE on the 2012 NSC results, Umalusi mentioned overly-lenient marking and late submissions of exam papers as concerns. The council noted that marking for the 2012 examinations was "generally accurate", but there were problems with marking extended writing and essays. Competency of markers was also raised as a serious concern.
The DBE could not be reached for comment at time of publication.
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