Deputy minister of Education and Vocational Training Philip Mulugo

The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training has said that there was no examination leakage during last year’s national form four examinations.

Deputy minister Philip Mulugo said his ministry didn’t receive any reports about leakage of the national form four exams during the whole process when the students were doing the exams.

“What happened is cheating which was found out during the correction of the exams. It was established that some candidates had written some answers on their bodies, others on their clothes while others were found with scribbled notes,” said Mulugo.

He said it was also found that more than one person participated in the cheating since some of the answer papers were found bearing more than one type of handwriting .

He said other candidates were found to have written similar answers, indicating that they had one source of the answers.

“This is what proves cheating and not examination leakage,” stressed Mulugo.

The minister was answering to a basic question by Yahya Kassim Issay (Chwaka-CCM) who wanted the government's stand on banning candidates who had cheated in form four exams last year not to seat for any exam until after three years had elapsed.

He questioned if there was no other punishment than that which the government could mete out to the candidates.

Mulugo assured the House that all candidates who were proved to have cheated in last year’s form four examinations would have to wait until the three years had elapsed before seating for another exam.

He said the decision came after discovering that there had been an increase in cheating in examinations, which would hinder government efforts to improve the quality of education if not arrested in time.

“We made this decision according to the National Examination Council of Tanzania regulations which prohit exam cheats from seating NECTA exams until a lapse of three years," he told the House.

He said the punishment given to the candidates does not rob them of their opportunity to study or seat as private candidates after the three-year period.