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Exam cheating: Police hold two
2008-10-08 13:31:31
By Lydia Shekighenda and Correspondent Gadiosa Lamtey
Police in Dar es Salaam are holding two people in connection with a case of cheating which the law-enforcers link to the leakage of the on-going national Form Four examinations.
Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander Suleiman Kova announced the arrest at a news conference in the city yesterday, hardly 24 hours after the cancellation of the Basic Mathematics paper following confirmation that it had leaked.
He named one of the suspects as Rhoda Juma (37), who he said was found holding answers for the Civics paper inside an examination room on Monday afternoon.
That was the first paper candidates were doing following the cancellation and postponement of the Basic Mathematics one earlier that day.
The other suspect was identified as Clara Haule (20) and was said to have been caught by examination supervisors doing the paper for Angela Maganga, a private candidate with examination number PI475/0023.
Kova said the suspects were arrested only minutes after the National Examination Council of Tanzania (Necta) called off the Basic Mathematics paper, which was confirmed to have been leaked to some candidates at Perfect Vision Secondary School in the city’s Ubungo area.
The examination supervisor got the two suspects out of the room and alerted the police, who soon swung in.
Meanwhile, selfishness, greed, irresponsibility and carelessness by authorities in the education sector have been given as the main explanation of the intermittent examination leaks the country has been witnessing.
Tanzania Higher Learning Institutions Students Organisation (Tahliso) secretary general Julius Mtatiro charged that the officials have been committing the crime or abetting its commission purposely ``for the benefit of their children and as a means of landing illegal monetary gains``.
Speaking at a separate news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, he recommended the taking of immediate stringent disciplinary and legal measures against the authorities concerned ``so as to end the problem once and for all``.
``Among the culprits are officials responsible for supervising the entire examination preparation chain, inclusive of the setting, printing and distribution stages,`` said Mtatiro.
He said the incidence of examination leaks has been recurring with worrisome frequency for several years now ``principally because top Necta and Education ministry officials like the relevant minister have not been held accountable enough for the problem``.
``Tahliso would be happy if Education and Vocational Training minister Prof Jumanne Maghembe was taken to task for failing to supervise his subordinates.
Meanwhile, Necta bigwigs like executive secretary Dr Joyce Ndalichako should be sacked because the wananchi are tired of their poor management,`` noted Mtatiro.
He said there is urgent need for the government to overhaul the leadership of the examinations council “because they have been holding their positions for too long while the examination leaks ran on unabated under their noses``.
According to the Tahliso official, another reason for the persistent examination leaks was the craving by poorly prepared candidates ``to get the papers prematurely and pass their examinations through the back door``.
``Students should be under proper academic and psychological drilling so that they become comfortable during examinations when they are due instead of wasting time and engaging in crime hunting for leaked papers,`` Mtatiro pointed out.
Necta called off the Form IV Basic Mathematics examination paper, with Dr Ndalichako declaring on TV that it had been leaked to some candidates and promising ``fast and thorough`` investigations.
She said in a subsequent interview with The Guardian that the council suspected that those charged with distributing the papers were behind the leak.
The council moved swiftly, relaying the cancellation and postponement message through the media and straight to examination centres while most candidates had already arrived at the centres.
In the message, which caught many candidates and the public unawares, the Necta chief said the examination was scheduled for 8 am on Monday but had been moved to October 27.
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