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The Young Communist League of South Africa [uFasimba] rejects with the contempt it deserves the backtracking by the Department of Basic Education on the publication of Grade 12 results at the end of this year. Although the department had indicated that they will not publish the results due to the fact that some of the newspapers have not met the deadline, we believe that this was an opportunity for them to introduce what is right, and not publish the results.

As the YCLSA, we believe that results are a private matter between the student and the department, and can only be revealed by or with the consent of the student. Students do not write examinations through newspapers, but through schools and therefore should and can get their results there.

Secondly, this practice is not done anywhere in the world and is an archaic apartheid creation. We do not need to embarrass our children by parading them as FAILURES in their communities. Many children are pushed to brink of depression and stress whilst others even commit suicide because they failed and are mocked.

We believe that we need to work on improving the entire education system, and that no one should enter our schooling system and leave as a failure. But to mock and embarrass children cannot be tolerated.

We are willing to consider the publication of results with students' numbers or ID numbers. We can then, as a nation, have the annual analysis of the results in terms of the passing rates, which is the only thing on national interest.

We believe that in publishing the results, the only people that make benefits are newspapers through the profits they make. In essence, the department has acceded to the interests of a few editors of newspapers who have their own interests at heart as they have to justify their employment to shareholders instead of conducting an open discussion on the matter with students, youth and parents organization who have no other interests but that of their children.