South Africa’s Department of Basic Education (DBE) indicated in a retaliatory statement against a City Press article alleging over-spending on exam papers for the 2024 Matric Exams that it was “investigating” the possibility of using entirely digital question papers in the future.

“The Department of Basic Education is in continuous discussion with GPW to explore options of using the GPW (Government Printing Works) more extensively in the printing of question papers and also investigating the digitalisation of question papers,” it said in a small portion of the statement.

This is the first time to our knowledge that the department has made such a remark. The end-year matric exams are an enormously costly effort for the South African government, with the DBE revealing this week that it will spend R3.6 billion to run the 2024 matric exams, or 11.18 percent of its total 2023/2024 budget.

The R3.6 billion figure includes the setting of the exam papers, their moderation, printing, transport, security involved in transport, including tracking technology for the trucks, and then the marking of the papers which includes costs for the markers, accommodation, travel, meals and venue costs.

A portion of the total price will also go towards the “Maintenance and enhancements to the Examination Computer system.”

Finally, the printing and distribution of the exam results are also included in the figure.

Digital exams could save taxpayers hundreds of millions

With digital question papers, the DBE would be able to remove at least the printing, transport and security of the exam papers from the equation. It said printing the exams alone cost South African taxpayers R220 million.

The best case scenario would see the question papers set and then kept in a secure digital database until the day of each respective exam. They would be accessed by learners using their exam numbers or ID numbers.

They would also be marked directly on the digital system, which could also remove some of the costs that go towards supporting the markers and moderators.

“With online exams, educational institutions can leverage technology to create a more dynamic and adaptable assessment environment,” writes remote learning exam moderation company ProctorTrack.

“Online exams allow for integrating multimedia elements, interactive questions, and real-time feedback. They cater to the diverse learning styles of today’s students, making the educational experience more engaging and effective. Moreover, online exams are inherently scalable, efficiently accommodating many students.”

Moreover, digital exams distributed through online means can lead to cost-cutting, but a strong cybersecurity effort would be required to protect the database from hackers.

“Institutions can realize cost savings with fewer physical resources. This includes reduced expenses related to printing, logistics, and hiring additional staff for proctoring. These cost savings are available for reinvestment to improve the overall education quality,” ProctorTrack adds.

The AQA, the United Kingdom’s examination board is preparing learners in the country to sit for digital end-year exams within the next decade. It said in 2023 that “the time has come” to add more digital technologies to examinations in the country.

Per an article from The Week, the AQA believes that since younger people are more in tune with the digital world than ever – which includes South Africans – they would be better prepared for the work world after final examinations.

More than two-thirds of young Brits polled by the AQA said that digital exams would better prepare them for “future work, education or training” opportunities.

The examination board adds that digital exams have the potential to be more inclusive and fairer, especially for people who have special educational needs, and it would bring an end to the so-called “handwriting bias” where markers remove marks because they struggle to read answers in exams.

They also have the potential to be better for the environment. In the UK, the 12 million exam papers prepared every summer “creates 600 tonnes of CO2” not including emissions from delivery trucks across the country, and 30 tonnes of plastic packages for the paper reems.

Are digital matric exams a pipedream?

There exist however serious drawbacks to the possibility. The most pertinent for South Africa is the digital divide.

According to the latest census, there is still nearly 8 percent of households in the country without access to a smartphone and a larger 35.2 percent that don’t have access to the internet at all.

The figure is disastrous when it looking into schools in the country. A 2022 ITWeb report indicated that only 20 percent of South Africa’s 23 258 primary and high schools have access to the internet, and out of those 6 770 schools were only connected to the internet for administration purposes – not for the learners to access.

Unless the government can close this divide and quickly, it is likely that South Africa will never have widespread digital online examinations. The costs of bringing internet to schools through public channels would also be enormous, despite future cost-savings they may bring.

This is also not taking into account that most South African schools lack devices necessary to host digital exams for each learner, nor teachers with the correct aptitudes to drill and prepare learners for the exams themselves.

It would take years of training and sourcing devices, and millions in taxpayer Rands. At this point in time, the possibility of digital matric exams in South Africa remains a pipe dream at worst, at best only certain privileged schools will be able to host them. The question then becomes, is it worth it?

[Image – Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash]