The Department of Basic Education (DBE) will publish the 2024 matric results, after it challenged the Information Regulator’s (InfoReg’s) decision that prohibited publication.
The education department was issued with an enforcement notice last month, for failing to comply with section 11 of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
This led the InfoReg, the custodian of SA’s data privacy law, to rule against publishing of 2024 matric results in newspapers.
According to a statement, the DBE says it lodged an application to set aside the enforcement notice issued by the Information Regulator regarding the publication of matric results in newspapers.
The department filed its papers at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday, 13 December 2024, it states.
“The appeal means that the enforcement notice has been suspended and that the department will proceed and release results to media houses who will publish in terms of the established practice in which only exam numbers are used.”
Last month, the DBE was served with an enforcement notice after it failed to obtain consent for the publication of matric results from learners or parents/guardians of learners that sat for the 2023 National Senior Certificate examinations.
Resultantly, the InfoReg directed the 2024 matric results should not be published in newspapers, with the results made available to the learners using methods that are compliant with POPIA, such as each learner obtaining their result from the school or using the secure SMS platform of the DBE which enables each learner to access their results confidentially.
In its appeal papers, the department says it argued the publication of the matric examination results in its current format (only the examination number and the results) in the local newspapers is not information that relates to an identifiable learner.
The grounds of appeal relied upon by the Department of Basic Education are fourfold, including that an enforcement notice under section 95(1) of POPIA can only be issued and served in respect of a past or present interference with the protection of the personal information of a data subject.
Secondly, and in the alternative, the Information Regulator is bound by a court order which already settled the lawfulness of the release and publication of the matric examination results in the present format (consisting of examination numbers and corresponding results only) in local newspapers, says the DBE.
“For the Information Regulator to sit back and merely state a conclusion on the basis that the Department of Basic Education has ‘failed to demonstrate’ a compliance with any one of the conditions in section 11(1) of the POPI Act is therefore insufficient: it is for the Information Regulator to positively demonstrate non-compliance with the relevant provisions of the POPI Act in respect of a past or present interference with the protection of the personal information of a data subject before an enforcement notice can be served.
“Therefore, the decision to serve the department with the enforcement notice is not in accordance with the law and/or involves an exercise of discretion by the Information Regulator that ought to have been exercised differently.”
The issue around publishing matric results in newspapers became a contentious one in January 2022, when the DBE decided it won’t publish them on any media public platforms, citing compliance with the requirements of POPIA as the reason.
At the time, the department said the rule was introduced to respect the right to privacy to protect against unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information belonging to school pupils.
However, the Pretoria High Court ruled the matric results should be published on all media platforms. The court said ordered the results be published via various media platforms without the first names and surnames of the learners, noting only exam numbers should be publicised.
The court’s decision was because not everyone has access to the internet, adding that some learners no longer live in the area where their high school is based and might not be able to access their results timeously.
The Information Regulator, headed by advocate Pansy Tlakula, is mandated to ensure organisations put in place measures to protect the data privacy of South Africans in terms of POPIA.
Under POPIA, organisations must inform the InfoReg if they expose the personal information of data subjects to unauthorised third-parties without their approval.
The Act sets down firm frameworks that companies must abide by to avoid fines, criminal persecution and potential reputation loss. Perpetrators can face fines of up to R10 million or 10 years of imprisonment, depending on the seriousness of the breach.
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