Lilongwe schools implicated in Malawi MSCE exams leakage cartel
Malawi National Examination Board (Maneb) has mentioned six schools in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe has the epicentre of the leakage of the 2013 Malawi Schools Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination believed to be the work of a sophisticated cartel.
The secondary schools mentioned in a Maneb statement made available to Nyasa Times are Chipasula, Chinsapo, Bwaila, the once prestigious Likuni Boys and Likuni Girls, and Chisomo Private, all schools located within the City of Lilongwe.
The statement revealed that so far almost 38 candidates and four teachers have been arrested.
However, while admitting that the leakage has been worse this year than last year, Maneb Executive Director Roy Hauya said that the Board will not apply wholesale punitive measures and cancel the entire examination but wants to focus its energies in pursuing and dealing with the cartel behind the leakage.
Hauya said it would be unreasonable to punish several thousands of innocent students in many centres that have not been affected by the leakages by re-administering the examinations.
“Maneb will proceed to process the MSCE 2013 for all candidates. We do not consider the option of re-writing,” he said.
Hauya said in as far as Maneb was concerned all centres affected by the leakage have been identified and information has been collected for all cases that are with the police.
He also said Maneb has the capacity to identify and detect candidates who cheated and had prior exposure tp an examination paper.
“We believe that re-writing the examination even in selected subjects or papers will be great torture and unfair burden to the majority of candidates who took the examinations without any form of dishonesty,” said Hauya, while pushing the blame to various stakeholders including the police, District Education Officers and also weak laws in the
country.
Hauya said there was an indication of the existence of a cartel that makes money from examinations. He said this cartel comprises police, teachers, principals and directors of private schools, parents and guardians, and vendors who survive of fast deals and work on behalf of major suppliers of these examinations.
Several candidates have been arrested across the country in connection with the examination leakage with most of them coming from the central region and last week four teachers were arrested in the same capital city after one of them was caught selling the papers at K2,000 (US$6.00) each.
Most of the students who have been arrested were found with already prepared answers which upon inspection marched the Maneb examination papers they were sitting for.
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