Mphatso Nkuonera
Renowned Education Expert, Limbani Nsapato, has commended the Ministry of Education for successfully curbing the malpractice of examinations leakage, which he says has won the hearts of stakeholders, including foreign academic institutions.
“The Ministry of Education and the Malawi National Examinations Board must be commended for administering leakage-free exams for the past four consecutive years, thus saving millions of tax-payers’ money that might otherwise have been lost through re-administration of the exams.
“There is still need, however, to seal cheating loopholes as the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PLSCE) and the Junior Certificate for Education (JCE) are key determinants of learner progression on the education ladder. The credibility of the examination process is also imperative to ensuring tangible improvements in education governance and management in the country,” he explained.
The Executive Director for the Civil Society Education Coalition, Benedicto Kondowe, has attributed the past four years of no leakage in Malawi’s examinations to the change of leadership at MANEB, which he says has greatly restored the credibility of the exams.
Kondowe noted that the supervision of the entire examination process has been improved, including the setting, printing, administration, security and transportation of the examination papers.
“The change of leadership at MANEB has helped bring a change in the management of examinations in the country. The involvement of law enforcement agencies in transportation and distribution of exam papers has been a great initiative towards minimizing leakages.
The new leadership has also improved payment of allowances to security officers and invigilators, who previously reported for duties at examination centres without any money, leading to frustration and hence leakage of the exams,” Kondowe stated.
Kondowe commended the new management of MANEB and encouraged them to continue making strides in ensuring successful management of examinations.
The Secretary for Education, Chikondano Mussa, said the efforts to crack down on examination leakage have helped to save resources that get drained when reconstructing new sets of examination papers to be used for re-examining the same candidates whose exams get botched.
“These four years of leakage-free exams have helped to build trust in the examinations that students are sitting for, and there is improved morale in learners to work hard as they are now confident that they will not sit for a repeated exam,” she said.
This year’s examinations commenced on 10th May 2023, starting with the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PLSCE), followed by the Junior Certificate for Education (JCE) and concluding with the administration of the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) on 21st July 2023.
