MSCE 6 points achievements stir debate

A rich debate has ensued in social media on how students these days can easily score an aggregate of six points, the best at Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE).

Information indicate that six students scored six points each at Chaminade Secondary School, another six students scored the same points each at Stella Maris Secondary School and five students got six points each at Marist Secondary School in Dedza.

This is just an example of just three schools sampled from the norrh, centre and south but there many schools that have produced the same result.

Hope Msukwa, a journalist, says there are a number of factors on this.

“Repeating class, study materials available, private schools work to out do one anorher and examination leakages,” he says commenting on a post.

Some felt the government deliberately lowered the score marks so that many students pass and the government is not associated with failure while others say the lowering of the score marks was to enable as many children as possible to sit for university entry examinations.

But Simeon Maganga, the public relations officer for Malawi National Examination Board (Maneb) dismissed the suggestions as myths which have been there since time immemorial.

“Two years running now, there has been no exam leakage. Even if we go back in years there were leakages in 2000, 2007 and 2010, focussing on six points as a performance indicator one would see that the performance wasnlt any better,” he says.

Maganga noted exams are not meant to ambush candidates, saying there is curriculum and syllabus from whose content exam questions are drawn.