The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is pressing ahead with its plans to publish the 2024 matric results in newspapers, despite an enforcement notice from the Information Regulator (IR) prohibiting the practice.
The tradition of publishing matric results in print has been a long-standing part of South Africa’s educational culture, but an enforcement notice issued on 6 November cast doubt on whether this tradition would continue.
The IR’s decision to prohibit the publication of matric results in newspapers stems from concerns over privacy under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). An assessment of the DBE’s practices found that the department had failed to obtain the necessary consent from learners or their guardians to publish their 2023 National Senior Certificate (NSC) results. As a result, the IR issued an enforcement notice, instructing the DBE to halt the publication of the 2024 matric results in newspapers and instead ensure compliance with POPIA by providing results through alternative methods.
During a DBE media briefing on 27 November, where an update on the NSC examinations was provided as marking began following the completion of the exams, Rufus Poliah, the chief director for National Assessment and Public Examinations, said the DBE believes it is fully compliant with the regulations.
Poliah explained that the DBE had sought legal advice from reputable senior counsel, which confirmed that publishing the results in newspapers is necessary to accommodate learners who are far from home and unable to access their schools. This ensures that these learners can still receive their results.
In addition, he said the results are published in the newspaper in an anonymised format.
“We use unique exam numbers which are only known to the candidate, so nobody can even determine the results of another learner,” said Poliah.
He also referenced the outcome of a court case in 2022. In early January 2022, the DBE announced it was going to stop the publication of matric results on public platforms, ostensibly in compliance with POPIA.
AfriForum, Maroela Media, and a matriculant were quick to challenge the ban in court, and that same month the court ruled that the results must be made public and issued a costs order against the DBE.
“So, on these three grounds, we think that we are within the ambient of the regulation,” he said.
The matric results are expected to be released on 13 January 2025, with all provincial education departments releasing their results the following day.
Debate over publishing the matric results
The IR’s enforcement notice ignited widespread debate in the media.
Supporters of the ban argue that publishing results without consent compromises learners’ privacy. For some learners, the recognition in print might feel validating, but others who did not perform as expected could face embarrassment and stigma. The potential for unwanted contact from organisations or individuals adds another layer of concern, particularly for those who may not know how to handle such attention.
However, critics say the decision limits access to important public information. Publishing matric results has long been a way to measure the country’s educational performance, celebrate student achievements, and provide transparency. Educational institutions and employers often use the published results to make decisions, and many believe it fosters a sense of collective recognition and accountability.
One of the most vocal opponents of the IR’s decision is AfriForum. On 18 November, the organisation announced that it had instructed its legal team to prepare for a case to ensure that this year’s matric results are published on media platforms.
Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s head of cultural affairs, argues that publishing the results serves the public interest. “To label it as a violation of individuals’ right to privacy does not make sense, as only examination numbers appear in the media. The court has previously ruled in favour of AfriForum and the other parties that this does not infringe on anyone’s right to privacy,” she said.
While AfriForum is likely to welcome the DBE’s decision to proceed with printing the results in newspapers, they have not yet issued a public comment on the matter or how it may impact their plans to take the IR to court.
Privacy rights vs public interest
The IR’s enforcement notice also outlined requirements for the publication of the 2025 matric results. The DBE was instructed to obtain explicit consent from learners aged 18 and older, or from the parents or guardians of younger learners, before publishing any results in newspapers.
Additionally, the DBE was required to develop a system for managing and verifying this consent within 90 days, subject to approval by the IR to ensure compliance with POPIA. The notice also specified that if the DBE continues using the current system of publishing results linked to exam numbers, it must ensure that learners cannot be identified by their peers. If the department introduces a new system, it must comply with POPIA standards, with evidence provided to the IR.
Failure to meet these requirements will prevent the DBE from publishing results in newspapers in the future.
The battle over the publication of the results highlights the tension between privacy rights and public interest.
In terms of POPIA, personal information may only be processed on limited justifiable grounds. These grounds include where:
- the processing is necessary to comply with an obligation imposed by law;
- the processing protects a legitimate interest of the data subject;
- the processing is necessary to pursue the legitimate interests of the organisation or a third party; or
- the data subject consents to the processing.
In 2021, before the decision of the DBE in January 2022 to stop the publication of matric results on public platforms, the department sought to justify the publication of the results with reference to laws, including the National Policy Pertaining to the Conduct, Administration and Management of the NSC Examination and the constitutional injunction that a child’s best interests are of paramount importance.
In response to the DBE’s stance back then on publishing matric results, the IR outlined several ways in which the department failed to comply with the lawful processing of personal information. In this month’s enforcement notice, the IR highlighted that the DBE did not obtain the required consent from learners or their guardians before publishing the personal details of the 2023 NSC exam candidates, a requirement under POPIA.
The DBE also failed to demonstrate that the publication of these results was necessary to fulfil any contractual obligations, nor did it provide any legal justification for this publication.
The DBE argued that publishing the results was in the best interests of the learners. However, the IR rejected this reasoning, stating that publishing personal information in newspapers was not the only method to achieve this aim, and that the DBE did not prove how it would protect learners’ legitimate interests.
The DBE also failed to justify how publishing results in newspapers was necessary for performing a public law duty. Similarly, the IR noted that there was no demonstration that publishing the results pursued the legitimate interests of the DBE or the media.
The IR emphasised that the interests of the DBE or the media cannot take precedence over the rights and freedoms of the learners. Therefore, the only valid reason the department could have for publishing the matric results was obtaining consent from each learner or their guardian, the IR concluded.
The middle ground
In a recent article published by Bowmans, partner Nadine Mather and senior associate Pascale Towers examine the legal implications of publishing matric results under POPIA and proposed potential solutions for the DBE, educational institutions, and other stakeholders.
Mather and Towers suggest that a balanced approach – such as obtaining informed consent, de-identifying results, or exploring alternative publication methods – could help meet the needs of learners, the DBE, schools, and the broader public.
One possible solution they propose is de-identifying or aggregating the matric results. According to POPIA, personal information no longer falls under its regulations once it has been sufficiently de-identified.
“In this regard, POPIA does not apply to the processing of personal information that has been sufficiently de-identified. This means that the information that identifies an individual or can be used, manipulated or linked by reasonably foreseeable methods to identify the individual, has been deleted.”
Although in the past, the DBE removed learners’ names and only published examination numbers, this still allowed for some degree of identification within schools.
“If the department can develop a method of assigning examination numbers to individual learners that ensures that a learner cannot be identifiable, it is arguable that POPIA would not apply to the publication of the results,” they explain.
If de-identifying the results proves difficult, Mather and Towers suggest that newspapers could still publish aggregated or generalised data.
“For example, if a newspaper reported that 60% of all learners passed or 4% of learners achieved three distinctions, it may not be reasonably possible to use these percentages to identify the relevant learners. This would assist in serving the public interest of transparency without compromising learners’ right to privacy.”
One of the main motivations for publishing results has been the celebration of top achievers. Mather and Towers argue that this can still be done, as long as the learner (or their parent or guardian) provides voluntary, specific consent.
“Publishing the results of top achievers only, with their consent, will uphold the right to privacy of the many learners who did not achieve their desired results or who do not wish for their results to be made public.”
