Maneb admits results mess
Malawi National Examination Board (Maneb) on Wednesday admitted that the published results of the 2012 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations top performers, which recently stirred controversy, were not correct as the Ministry of Education transposed them with those of 2011.
Maneb executive director Roy Hauya made the admission when the examining body appeared before the Education, Science and Human Resources Committee of Parliament in Lilongwe where, among several issues, his team was also asked to explain alleged leakages.
Said Hauya: “Maneb does not publish results in newspapers, but what happened was that the Ministry of Education requested results for 2008 to 2012… Instead of putting the 2012 results, the ministry put in the newspapers the results for 2011 and indicated that they were for 2012.”
He said ministry’s request was aimed at analysing and identifying schools that have been consistently doing well and those that have consistently not done well and find solutions to issues observed through the analysis.
Hauya said after discussions on the issue, the ministry was told to analyse the data again and that correct results and analysis would be published once more.
Maneb was summoned to Parliament to explain several accusations raised by the Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) which in a press statement accused the examining body of doctoring the 2012 MSCE results.
This was after the Independent Schools Association of Malawi (Isama) observed that the published 2012 MSCE results did not reflect the actual performance of students, especially from private schools where some who had passed well were not on the list.
Ironically, the Ministry of Education has been maintaining that the results were correct and reflected what it got from Maneb.
Hauya denied all the accusations as raised by Csec, saying Maneb did not manipulate the examination results, that there was no external influence and that the examination pass rate was not reduced since there is a standard pass rate which is used every year without changes.
He also said according to the Maneb system, all candidates in an examination are treated as one bloc, with no chances of putting any school at a disadvantage or unfair advantage over another.
Hauya was accompanied by deputy executive director David Yadidi, director of security Robert Harawa, director of administration Ivy Kalua and director of examinations Jack Chalimba.
Committee members also asked Maneb to explain the numerous reports of examination leakages focusing much on the 2012 examinations which saw substantial leakages of mainly Mathematics Paper I and II that led to disqualification of some students.
The team admitted that leakages have been one of the major challenges at Maneb.
Hauya said although it was clear the Mathematics Paper I and II had leaked in 2012, Maneb could not cancel the examinations since re-writing could have been costly and a waste of resources.
Harawa, on the other hand, disclosed that in the case of the 2012 leakages, it was discovered that it was personnel within the Malawi Police Service who were sources of the leaked papers with some candidates allegedly sourcing them right from Police Headquarters in Area 30 Lilongwe. He said so far at least four police officers have been arrested in connection with the scam and are answering charges in court.
