admin
We are in that season again, the time of the year when pupils sit public examinations. It is an important season of tests and nerves as learners undergo assessments that determine their future. But it is also a time when some pupils and teachers desecrate our public examinations – the essence of our education system – by prematurely opening the exams and clandestinely circulating or selling them.
True to tradition, four papers leaked in Gweru recently. Ordinary Level Mathematics papers one and two and English papers one and two were opened, photocopied and sold by two teachers, a cook and a school head in the Midlands capital. A pupil, 17, at Msiteli High in Bulawayo had access to one of the Mathematics papers through his brother, 21.
Now, the government has ordered the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec) to have the four papers reset and rewritten.
Many breaches have taken place before, but one of the biggest occurred in October 2012. Zimsec had to withdraw 13 papers that had leaked after a school head in Matabeleland North lost them while hitch-hiking from Bulawayo.
These filtrations come at a huge cost, not only monetarily, but also in terms of time lost when exams are reset and rewritten, the trauma pupils and their parents go through waiting for the new, rescheduled tests and above all their adverse impact on the integrity of our education sector. At least $1 million would be spent on this year’s re-run. In 2012, around $850,000 was spent for fresh papers.
Pupils become involved in examination malpractice because passing a public examination can have profound, immediate and long-term impact on a candidate’s life.
A study by local educationists, Isao Mashanyare and Emmanuel Chinamasa, that was published by the IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science in April says: “Actions and practices that undermine the credibility of examinations pose a serious threat to the quality of the education system and the attainment of its selective goals. Examination leakages are an example of such actions that threaten the integrity of examinations and damage the authority of those responsible for conducting them.”
To ensure that the credibility of our examinations, and by extension, our highly-regarded education system, is preserved we have to candidly relook at our systems. Everything centres on boosting the physical security of the test papers from the setting centres at Zimsec to their deployment to examination centres and back to marking centres. The government, Zimsec, teachers, parents and pupils need to be involved along the way.
Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Lazarus Dokora’s order that school heads should no longer carry papers is good because most leakages have occurred at that stage.The government, he said would now appoint examination officers at every school to oversee the running of the exams. That way Zimsec takes overall charge of examinations. Where and when there is a breach, only Zimsec would be held accountable.
Also, Zimsec needs support from police. Armed police must guard the question papers from deployment centres right down to schools and to guard the answer sheets after the exams are written up to their delivery at marking centres.
Mashanyare and Chinamasa give six suggestions that could help. Zimsec, they say, must use the mass media to educate the public on the dangers of leaking examinations. Second, the exams body and centres should form “student intelligence committees” to interlink with and identify individuals who cheat. Third, Zimsec should form a security unit which provides security for examination papers from district centres to schools. Fourth, Zimsec must pay for examination transportation and administration so that teachers are motivated to run the exams diligently.
“Zimsec,” the academics suggest, “could develop a system of coding all examination papers so that a report would be sent electronically to Zimsec if any paper is opened before time. This could be some form of surveillance system which Zimsec has been using when transporting examination materials from the printing companies to collection points. Zimsec can improve the security systems of transporting examination materials to centres.”
Punishment on culprits must be toughened to send a strong message across. The Msiteli pupil will get two strokes, the court ruled on Wednesday and his brother will serve a nine-month jail term. The pupil didn’t actively seek the paper, yes; his elder brother and Gweru-based aunt did. But the boy knew he was committing a crime by accessing the paper and jotting down answers and taking them into the examination room before time.
More strokes than two plus a one-year ban from taking any Zimsec examination cannot be too excessive punishment. His brother got what he deserved, but their aunt needs to be brought to book too. Those responsible for the primary leak in Gweru must be taught a lesson. Jail terms, which necessarily come with dismissal from work and bans from future formal work, are appropriate sanctions.
Sidumisile Mabena
Online Reporter