In October, Malawi’s School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations for secondary schools begun. More than 154,000 students across Malawi were set to sit for these examinations. The examinations were set to run up to mid-November, but it was discovered that some exam papers had been leaked on social media.
The discovery of the leak prompted the cancelation of the exam. Additionally, police arrested more than 30 students found in possession of leaked electronic MSCE examination papers. Local authorities also arrested two teachers and a businessman for allegedly being behind the leakage.
Chayamba Secondary School and its Students
An official from the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) visited Chayamba Secondary School to monitor the progress of examinations. While the official conducted his duties, he saw one male student with a WhatsApp phone. The discovery made him suspicious, and he confiscated the phone. Upon checking the WhatsApp messages, he found Biology paper one yet to be done.
Later on, all other students were searched, and more phones containing copies of examination papers were confiscated. Some leaked exam papers discovered were for Chemistry, English, Biology, Geography, and Mathematics.
In Malawi, gaining access to MANEB examination papers is an offense under Section 24(a)(b) of the MANEB Act. Due to this, Students at the Chayamba Secondary School were arrested and taken to Kasungu Police Station.
The headteacher of Chayamba confirmed the arrest and added that the students had not been cheating during the time of writing the examinations. Also, he said the students arrested were not boarding school students but those under open learning. Some students got released on bail to continue sitting examinations as investigations continue.
MANEB Crisis Meeting
Because of the discovery of copies of examination papers at Chayanba School, conclusions that the leakage was massive and widespread were made. The Malawi Ministry of Education and the MANEB officials conducted a crisis meeting to figure out a way forward. The meeting’s conclusions were announced on Wednesday in Lilongwe by the Minister of Education, Science, and Technology. The Minister announced that they had resolved to cancel the administration of exams and rescheduled them to March 9th, 2021, next year. Rescheduling the exam would cost the government about 4.5 billion Kwacha ( about $5.4 million)
Student Riots and the President’s Speech
The cancellation of the examination led to many frustrated learners taking to the streets in protest. In Malawi’s cities and town, many angry students started holding riots, which prompted the police to intervene.
Seeing that the nation’s state was worsening, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera held a public address in Lilongwe. The President said that it was unacceptable that the education of hundreds of thousands of students had been thrown, of course. President Lazururs ordered that fresh national examinations for secondary schools be held.
However, he rejected the proposal that exams be rescheduled in March and set January as the deadline. Lastly, he said he had given the Minister of education one week to investigate how the secondary school exams were leaked. Also, he called on the senior management of the exams board to be replaced.
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