‘Biggest loser will be newspapers’: Information Regulator sticks to its guns on banning publication of matric results
The Information Regulator insists matric results will not be published in newspapers without consent from learners and their parents, despite the opposition to the directive.
On Tuesday, IOL reported that pressure is mounting for the Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, to resolve the matric results publication headache created by the banning of publication by the Information Regulator.
On Wednesday, chairperson of the Information Regulator, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, said the matriculants have the right to privacy and that cannot be trumped by the financial interests of media publications which gain financially from publishing the results every year.
“The results are obtainable at schools. If you apply to get into university, the university does not rely on the result in the newspaper, you have to get the official results from the school. Second thing, there is an SMS facility that is available for the learners to obtain their results. They just register, get an OTP and you get your results instantly,” Tlakula said in an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
She said the publication of the matric results was just one of the methods but it does not mean that if the results are not published in the newspapers, the learners are not going to get their results.
“I really am at a loss to say, what is it that we are talking about. Who is being disadvantaged, unless we are talking about newspapers that generate revenue from the publication of results. We have to weigh the rights, the right to privacy vis-à-vis the right to make money. The court will have to say, if anyone goes to court, which right trumps the other. As far as we are concerned, the privacy of the children comes first,” said Tlakula.
She said the Information Regulator has directed the Department of Basic Education that the matric results can only be published after consent of the learners who are above 18, or parents of the learners who are younger.
“It’s based on the Protection of Personal Information Act (often called the POPI Act or POPIA) and as you know the act is there to protect the privacy of everyone. If you do not have justification for publishing without obtaining consent then you have to obtain consent. That is our directive,” said Tlakula.
She stated that publishing results only with examination numbers also compromises the learners because the examination numbers are not random, but sequential.
“The learners sit in sequential form in the examination room. The one will examination number one will be in front followed by number two, and number three. The results are published in that order in the newspapers. So if I am number one, and you are number two, I will know what your results are,” said Tlakula.
She said the Information Regulator is also pushing for the examination numbers to be randomised, so that when published in the newspaper, only the owner of the results will know.
IOL