Editors PickNational News

NGO attacks Maneb on exam leakages

Hauya: There is a need to overhaul security arrangements
Hauya: There is a need to overhaul security arrangements

The Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) has attacked the Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) over rampant examination leakages which have turned into lucrative business.

But Maneb, while acknowledging the problem, blamed the security system from the time examinations are prepared to the time they are administered.

Maneb called for a review of the whole process.

In recent years, Malawi has seen alarming leakages of Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination papers which have, in some cases, been sold on the streets before examinations started. This year, some people posted purported examination questions on social media networks such as Facebook.

At first, Maneb denied the claim, calling it a desperate campaign to discredit the examinations but later admitted.

Some teachers and students were arrested in the process.

Maneb announced that examinations would not be re-administered as doing so would be costly and penalise innocent students.

In a statement released yesterday, signed by its executive director Benedicto Kondowe and board chairperson MacBain Mkandawire, Csec attacked Maneb for losing focus during the whole process of examination administration, especially on security.

Reads the statement in part: “We perceive this as gross failure on the part of Maneb to provide reliable security system for the examinations, not only for this year but for the past ten years. We believe that there is and could never be an excuse for such failures.”

Csec has called on government to institute a commission of inquiry to look at what happened, review Maneb’s decision not to re-administer exams, look into funding problems and review Maneb’s security system.

Maneb executive director Roy Hauya admitted that there was a huge leakage problem, but added that his institution is not a security organ, hence could not carry out thorough investigations into the matter.

He shared Csec’s call for the need to overhaul security arrangements, starting from the time examinations are prepared.

Related Articles

Back to top button