Gauteng Education Department “Kacks Bark”

    Johannesburg, South Africa – Gauteng Education today released an angrily worded statement, lashing out at critics who pointed fingers at the provincial department for poor spelling in a ‘ Mathematical Literacy P1 Memorandum’. This memorandum was an answer sheet handed out to teachers by the Ekurhuleni North District for a Grade 11 standardised maths literacy exam, which contained a litany of spelling errors.

    The memorandum detailed symbols and the meanings of said symbols to be used by teachers when marking learners’ papers. The answer sheet decoded the “symbolls” [sic] as follows:

    A = Accuraccy
    CA = Consist Accuraentacy
    C = Converssion
    J = Justificaation (Reasson/Opinioon)
    CO = Own Oppinion
    R = Rouding Offng
    S = Simpliifccation

    The Gauteng Education Department, apparently irked by media critics and education activists, issued a strongly worded ‘statement’ under the headline: “Gauteingg Edyou Kacks Bark.” The statement read: “The GEDeptt is off thee oppinion thart seplling is a ‘Westirn Konstrukt’. The DEPT has seen on The Gooogle and The Tweetter that ppeeple reefer two “Spelling Nazis” all da tyme. To the Kritiks who want uz to uberserve Narzi seppling rules we sayz THE LARST LARF IS ON YOU!”

    – Sideswipe, South Africa’s finest news source

    Mandy de Waal is a freelance writer based in Gauteng. Follow her on Twitter.

    – Featured image via Wikimedia Commons