As many as 700 pupils who sat the 2008 matric exams may have cheated, Parliament's education select committee heard on Wednesday.
Now that schools had reopened around the country these cases were being investigated, education department deputy Director-General Penny Vinjevold told members.
Briefing the committee on the latest matric results, she said although there were far fewer problems with the examination compared to previous years, of the problems in 2008, "by far the majority are where we suspect there might have been some irregularity".
Certain "irregularities" had been spotted by invigilators.
"In some cases the teacher catches a learner with a piece of paper on them. Now they're not allowed to take a piece of paper [into the exam]. Or [the teacher] catches the learner with a cellphone on them. You are not allowed to take a cellphone into an exam.
"We then immediately declare an investigation.
Child caught with a cellphone
"Now, we don't say the child has cheated because we first have to look at the piece of paper [and] we have to see whether the cellphone was used.
"I must emphasise that of the 556 000 learners who wrote [the examinations], we're talking about a small number, in the order of 700 cases."
The schools reported these cases and the department then investigated.
"Obviously some learners bring lawyers, others want a proper investigation. We can't investigate these cases... until the schools re-open."
Other irregularities were picked up at the marking centres.
"A marker will come across a scene where on 10 or 20 scripts the answers are the same. Then they investigate to see if there's any possibility that there was copying here, or there was a teaching inconsistency. This requires careful investigation."
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