NADINE MATHER|
THE Department of Basic Education has announced that the usual practice of publishing matric results on media platforms will not take place for the 2021 results, because the dissemination of learners’ personal information would be in contravention of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
But what is the legal position under POPIA? And will POPIA apply to the publication of the matric results?
Before 2014, matric results were published displaying each learner’s name. In an effort to protect the identities of learners, from 2014 onwards, matric results were published displaying only the learner’s identity number or examination number without displaying the learner’s name. It has been argued that a learner’s examination number would not constitute personal information because by removing the learner’s name, the public would not know to which individual learner the marks in question relate.
For purposes of POPIA, personal information is information relating to
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