Durban - Matric exams at a KwaZulu-Natal school literally went down the toilet when a pupil feeling the stress of the ongoing finals took an unusual step in trying to have her paper postponed.
As pupils at Nsongeni High School in Isipingo sat down to write their Zulu paper on Thursday, the pupil stole all the exam papers, dumped them down a long drop and made a run for it.
The invigilator was busy distributing answer books when the pupil pounced. The question papers had not been distributed and lay on a table at the front of the exam hall, said DA education spokesperson Dr Imraan Keeka.
Suddenly the pupil ran to the table and grabbed all the question papers, opened the door to the exam room and made a mad dash for the toilet. The chief invigilator ran after her, but the youngster was too fast for her.
The pupil reached the toilet and threw all the question papers into the long drop. She then jumped over a fence and ran off.
The incident was reported to education authorities, and the acting chief director of provincial exams instructed that the school be given additional question papers so the remaining 16 pupils could write their exams. The errant pupil was not banned from writing exams; however, she would write all future papers in isolation while being watched over by an invigilator.
Education Department spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said the department had taught children to deal with stress through life orientation.
Keeka said he would follow up on the matter to see if any action was taken against the pupil. He praised the department for its exam paper distribution in the province.
The SA Depression and Anxiety Group gave the following advice to pupils writing matric exams:
- Do not put too much pressure on yourself and do the best you can.
- Take deep breaths to help clear your head and give yourself time to think.
- Re-reading the question will also help and ensure you don’t misunderstand the question and end up making mistakes.
- Think back to what you had revised and try to remember if you had answered similar questions during the revision period.