Speaker, education is careering from crisis to crisis. This has been the case at primary schools when books were not delivered in accordance with stipulations, and at high schools where results were not commensurate with the resources put into such institutions. Of late, tertiary institutions have joined the fray.
A week or two ago, it was the leaking of a question paper at the University of South Africa, Unisa, the pride of higher education in its heyday. This is the lowest level of incompetence at a university, let alone at one of Unisa's stature and reputation. It should not have occurred, and we in the UCDP decry the lowering of standards, whether intended or unintended. Question papers are high-risk material that must be handled with the greatest of care.
The University of the Free State keeps hogging the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The nation has yet to come to terms with and let go of the unpalatable words attributed to the vice chancellor of that institution regarding the indisposition of former President Nelson Mandela, and the university resurfaces with something that is bound to compromise the future of the students. An examination paper that was written over the weekend has caused shockwaves to run through the general public. The Afrikaans version of the agriculture question paper had answers attached to it, while the students writing the English paper were left to their own devices. The UCDP does not agitate for the English students to have had a memorandum, either. We condemn the fact that it happened in the other question paper, because the results of the university will be brought into question. It is very amateurish for such an occurrence to have taken place. Our institutions of higher education will also be looked down upon, as is the case with primary education. We know that there are diligent students at these institutions, but they are being let down by the authorities. I thank you. [Time expired.]