MANEB administers cheating, leakage-free exams in 2022
Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) on Thursday finished administration of the 2022 Malawi School Certificate Examinations (MSCE) without registering any case of leakage or cheating.
The development has excited the Ministry of Education, which believes this marks the beginning of a new era in the administration of national examinations.
Speaking after inspecting students who were writing their final paper – French – at Mtendere Secondary School in Dedza, Deputy Minister of Education Monica Chang’anamuno described the administration of examinations this year as excellent.
“The examinations have been properly administered with no cases of cheating and leakages as it was in the previous years. This has been achieved through maximum security measures, which we put in place,” said Chang’anamuno.
The Deputy Minister encouraged students to take language subjects such as French seriously, saying such languages are vital if they want to study abroad.
Chang’anamuno said the ministry is currently reviewing a curriculum to put more emphasis on science technology and innovations in line with the Malawi 2063.
Mtendere Secondary School head teacher, Amon Masanda, said the exams were well organized and he hopes that deserving students will do well.
One of the student who sat for the exams at the school, Jailos Kabotolo, said the exams were fair.
“I encourage other students to consider taking French subject as it easily connects them to the global world,” said Kabotolo.
During the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) governments, leakage and cheating featured highly in the administrations of national examinations, which include Primary School Leaving Certification of Examinations (PSLCE), Junior Certification of Education (JCE) examinations and MSCE.
Additionally, examination papers were being offered for sale on the public markets. In November 2007, for instance, education authorities were forced to nullify the results of examinations sat by 80, 000 students after it emerged that copies of the papers were leaked and sold beforehand to some pupils.
The examinations, which were printed in South Africa under tight security, were leaked in Malawi when they were delivered and sold on the streets days before students, under the watchful eye of police.
Officials at MANEB denied that copies were leaked, yet dozens of people were arrested while selling the exam papers.
In 2000, similar examinations were cancelled when some papers were leaked and sold on the streets, forcing the then president Bakili Muluzi to fire MANEB chief executive, Meria Nowa-Phiri.
And in a recent scenario, President Chakwera was forced to fire MANEB Executive Director Gerald Chiunda following a leakage of the examination papers.
Chiunda was later arrested for alleged involvement in the leakage. The matter is still in court.
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