The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supports the ongoing court challenge by the Information Regulator against the Department of Basic Education regarding the release of the 2024 matriculant examination results on media platforms.

The case, heard in the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday, seeks to block the public release of individual results, arguing it infringes on the privacy of students.

The EFF argues that the public dissemination of exam results causes harm to students, particularly those with poor performance.

In a statement, EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys said: "To release matriculant examination results publicly enhances nothing and instead creates the opportunity for ridicule and humiliation of those who may not have performed well when compared to their peers."

For years, the results have been published in newspapers and shared on digital platforms by the Basic Education Department. The EFF believes this practice is damaging, leading to negative mental health outcomes, including self-harm, among young people unable to handle the pressures of failing or performing poorly.

The party contends that these results are personal and should not be treated as public information.

“The exam results of individual learners are personal and serve no purpose as public information,” Mathys said.

Mathys further criticised the Department and groups like Afriforum, calling their claim that the public release of results is in the "public interest" both "shallow and misleading".

"Education must never serve as a means of negative competition or humiliation, as this forms part of the factors that discourage young people from bettering themselves.

"Education should never be turned into a rat race of capitalist comparison, wherein one's worth is determined by their performance rather than their efforts and is subsequently subjected to public scrutiny," said Mathys.

The party said it would observe the outcomes keenly and stand in support of the interdict.

IOL Politics