The Western Cape provincial government on Monday quelled rumours that a NSC paper was stolen through a hack of the province’s education department website.
It claims that the news, which was issued in a lookalike statement circulating on social media and WhatsApp, was “fake”.
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“From the screenshot that we have received, the press statement appears on a Western Cape Government Media Release Document and indicates that the National Senior Certificate (NSC) Biology Paper was stolen by a hacker from the WCED website,” the provincial government wrote in an official response.
On Twitter, Debbie Schafer Provincial Minister for Education in the Western Cape, added that the papers “aren’t kept electronically”.
It’s a strange phenomenon in W Cape
two errors though are that they refer to Biology when it is Life Sciences, and the day it was hacked, but papers aren’t kept electronically. — Debbie Schafer (@DebbieSchafer) 12 November 2018
The fake statement
“It has just now been confirmed that prior to the writing of the NSC biology exams, a hacker was able to infiltrate the WCED database and steal copies of biology papers,” the fake statement read.
Notably, biology is now referred to as life sciences.
This is FAKE news! We understand that the distribution of the fake press statement has been cause for alarm amongst our NSC candidates. We wish to assure you that this statement is fake and Wr encourage you to remain focused for the last couple of weeks of the NSC. pic.twitter.com/SIzrxmjIJl
— WC Education Min (@WC_EduMin) 12 November 2018
Other rumours also untrue
Additionally, other rumours were also quelled. The provincial government noted that the NSC Geography Paper 1 will not need to be rewritten as other rumours online suggest.
Also fake.
— Debbie Schafer (@DebbieSchafer) 12 November 2018
“We condemn these selfish acts, that aim to distract learners and cause questions around the integrity of the examinations. This also adds additional stress to learners who are already stressed at this difficult time,” the official statement added.
Feature image: F1 Digitals via Pixabay (CC0)
