145,271 candidates register for 2014 MSCE exams, Maneb fears absenteeism
About 145,271 candidates have registered for this year’s Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination set for July 9th to August 1st.
Malawi National Examination Board (Maneb) Public Relations Officer, Simeon Maganga told Nyasa Times in an interview that Maneb was currently addressing queries arising from the registration process.
According to Maganga, 134,178 candidates have registered for the Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) examination and 261,207 for the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) examination.
“The candidature, especially at MSCE level, may negligibly change as we are still addressing queries arising from the registration process. This happens every year and is part of quality control,” explained Maganga.
He however expressed fears of absenteeism especially for the MSCE examination, which he said has lately become a norm.
“There is always high absenteeism rate especially for MSCE examination. For instance, 144,924 candidates registered last year but only 127,211 were available for the examination.”
He added: “We would, therefore, like to encourage those who have registered this year, especially external candidates, to avail themselves especially for the MSCE examination so that we don’t waste taxpayers’ money by producing examination papers which will not be used at all.”
Meanwhile, Maneb said it was very ready and geared towards eliminating malpractices such as examination leakage.
“On top of stepping up security measures, we are also urging the public, regardless of whether they are in the education sector or not, to join this fight for the sake of jealously protecting the credibility of our education and certification,” said Maganga.
PLSCE examination is set for May 27th to 29th while JCE examination will be conducted from June 17th to 27th.
