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Exams council issues warning
2008-03-29 09:45:01
By Hannah Mwandoloma
The National Examination Council of Tanzania announced yesterday that it would take legal action against school head teachers and owners of examination centres conning students.
Anyone found flouting the directives and regulations guiding the operations of the centres would be taken to court and exposed through media, it warned.
The council’s Executive Secretary, Dr Joyce Ndalichako, told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that severe measures would also be taken against centres and students not submitting original copies of certificates when registering for examinations.
She was commenting on the modalities of registering for the forthcoming national examinations scheduled for October this year and February next year.
Form Four and Form Six students are due to sit for their national examinations this October and next February, respectively, according to the executive secretary.
``We have also come to realise that some head teachers and owners of examination centres are dishonest and do not submit examination registration fees to the council,`` she said.
``This makes the council come under a barrage of attacks and criticism for the misconduct and shameful behaviour it is not responsible for. That``s why we have decided to take more serious action against proven culprits,`` she added.
Citing examples, she said some examination centre owners habitually delayed the submission of fees for 1,594 Form Four private candidates who sat for last year’s examinations, causing serious inconveniencies.
She said most of the money in question ended up in the pockets of the centre owners and head teachers.
Noting that the problem was ``very serious and widespread``, Dr Ndalichako said 194 students tendered copies of fake certificates and 602 submitted applications without paying the relevant examination fees.
A total of 227 students sought to sit for examinations without having the qualifications needed, while another 315 did not pay examination fees on time.
``We don`t like to see such mistakes repeated this time. That`s why we are issuing this early warning to school head teachers and examination centre owners, particularly those commonly involved in these malpractices. They should reform immediately,`` she said.
Dr Ndalichako appealed to institutions of learning and the public to abide by the requirements of the national examination policy and other procedures covering registration for national examinations.
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