| 1.1 |
With the state of readiness visits in July 2015 and the auditing of public and independent school safes/strongrooms by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), it was found that most of the schools do not have a policy regarding the use of the schools’ safe/strongroom and the safe/strongroom keys during the conduct of the NSC examination. |
| 1.2 |
For the October/November 2016 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination, all public and independent schools must have a safe/strongroom and safe/strongroom key policy in order to ensure that the NSC examination is not compromised. |
| 1.3 |
Principals or centre managers must ensure that their safe/strongroom is cleared of all text books, stationery, and/or other material that might compromise the integrity of the NSC examination. Only material pertaining to the October/November 2016 National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Adult Education and Training (AET) Level 4 examinations are allowed in the safe/strongroom, for the duration of the examination. |
| 1.4 |
Schools are further advised to consider an alarm system and linkage to a security company for 24hr surveillance, if a security system is not in place. |
| 2. |
Norms and Standards for entering the school safe/walk-in safe and the handling of the safes keys |
| 2.1 |
Entering the school safe |
| 2.1.1 |
No person is allowed to access the safe/strongroom by themselves while question papers are stored in the safe/strongroom. This means that for the entire NSC examination period, the school secretary must not have access to the safe/strongroom at any given time. |
| 2.1.2 |
Only the principal or centre manager and chief invigilator may access the safe/strongroom as a group when removing question papers from the safe/strongroom on the day of a specific examination. |
| 2.1.3 |
On the day of the examination, an hour prior to the start of the examination, the principal or centre manager, chief invigilator and senior subject teacher may remove the question papers from the safe/strongroom. |
| 2.1.4 |
Access to the safe/strongroom must be monitored and controlled at all times. |
| 2.1.5 |
There must be a register for the safe/strongroom and all officials entering the safe/strongroom must sign in and out on the register and indicate reasons for entering/accessing the safe/strongroom. |
| 2.1.6 |
As soon as the intended duty/activity is completed, officials must lock up the safe/strongroom immediately. |
| 2.1.7 |
A double locking system to the safe/strongroom is encouraged so that it is impossible for one official to have the opportunity to access the safe/strongroom on his/her own. Where a double locking system is not possible, other means of storing the keys to the safe/strongroom must be explored so that no official can access the safe/strongroom unaccompanied. This also means that the school principal/centre manager also cannot access the safe on his/her own. |
| 2.2 |
Handling of the keys to the safe |
| 2.2.1 |
The school principal or centre manager is solely responsible for the safe-keeping of the keys to the safe/strongroom. |
| 2.2.2 |
The school principal or centre manager will designate a second official as back-up in the event that the school principal or centre manager is away on leave, or is on official duty outside the office. |
| 2.2.3 |
All safes/strongrooms must have a duplicate key. The duplicate key must be kept with the circuit team manager or IMG manager at the district office.
The details of the person who is responsible for the duplicate key must be forwarded to the WCED by 30 September 2016 addressed to:
Mr Clive Berry
Fax number: 021-4615637 or 086 660 1965
Email address: Clive.Berry@westerncape.gov.za
|
| 2.2.4 |
Duplicate keys must not be stored or kept at private institutions. |
| 2.2.5 |
An audit of the keys will be conducted on a regular basis by the district office to ensure that all keys are accounted for. |
| 2.3 |
Procedures to follow if safe keys are lost |
| 2.3.1 |
The following procedures must be followed meticulously in the unfortunate incident of a safe/strongroom key being lost during an examination period:
- report the lost key immediately to the District Director and Head Office for attention of Mr Clive Berry at telephone number 021-4672265
- report it simultaneously to the SA Police and obtain a MAS number
- the duplicate key must immediately be fetched from the district office in order to open the safe/strongroom
- arrange with the specific safe/strongroom service provider or local locksmith to replace the lock meganism. Two new safe/strongroom keys must be provided to the school and the original safety procedure must be followed
- provide district office with one of the new safe/strongroom keys
|
SIGNED: BK SCHREUDER
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT MANAGEMENT
DATE: 2016:09:02
|
 |