• THE ECZ seeks to attain a culture of zero tolerance to examination malpractices and to provide examinations of high international standards and credibility.

By CHARLES SIMENGWA –

THE sun has never really set on examination malpractices in Zambia if one considers the number of pupils and teachers who were arrested in 2014 for their sneaky behaviour.
As the 2015 examinations across the various grades come rolling, many people are most likely worried that the vice, which is conducted in many forms, may recur.
In the past decade, there has been a bigger spectre stalking this important exercise aimed at testing students’ knowledge or proficiency in subjects or skills.
What is more worrisome is that the crafty, underhand tactics now cut across primary, secondary, and tertiary education.
That is not all. Some teachers and parents have also joined in tricky behaviour, which offers more accumulated evidence of the festering problems in the conduct of examinations.
For the teachers, it is about illicit financial benefits while for the parents, it is because of desperation to see their children score higher marks despite not having invested in meaningful study.
As a good example, just last year, 39 grade 12 pupils were arrested in Lusaka over examination malpractices.
They were seized in Mtendere Township at a house where they were being guided through a leaked English examination paper.
Police and Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ) officers raided the house where the pupils, who were paying K500 to a teacher to access the paper, were found.
In Central Province, 13 teachers were apprehended over leaked Grade nine examination papers.
Nine pupils and eight business executives were also charged with possession of unauthorised documents. They were all rounded up in Kapiri Mposhi and Mkushi.
The examination papers were stolen from a basic school in Kapiri Mposhi, where a head teacher and three other teachers allegedly connived and sold the papers to other schools and individuals.
There were many other cases which were exposed countrywide, while others were possibly not brought to the attention of the public.
Some penalties which deceitful students have been made to bear include the cancellation of results.
For example, the ECZ in 2011 nullified results for 311 Grade nine and 12 candidates for alleged involvement in examination malpractices the previous year.
While 231 grade 12 candidates had their results cancelled, 80 pupils who wrote their grade nine examinations were disqualified from the whole process.
In addition to the nullification of results in all the subjects, the ECZ imposed some sanctions on the culprits which involved excluding them from writing any examinations conducted by the council for a period of two years.
The recurrence of examination malpractices for many years may suggest that people involved in such fraudulent behaviour are proving to be impervious to punishment.
Consider this. In 2009, ECZ indicated that 327 cases of examination malpractices were recorded during the 2008 examination session.
Of these, five cases were at grade 7, 55 at grade nine, and 267 cases were committed at the grade 12 level.
Results were nullified in all the subjects and 57 people involved in the leakages were convicted, but the vice has continued.
Across the years, the nature of cheating received by the ECZ include receiving assistance from teachers, prior knowledge of the examinations, smuggling of unauthorised materials into examination rooms, collusion by candidates, and impersonation.
Mwenya Chileshe, in 2010, dissected the effects of leakages, and wrote that examination malpractices affect the smooth running of society.
In an article carrying the title ‘A culture of leakages in Zambia’ in the Challenge Magazine, Mr Chileshe contended that individuals involved in leakages lose their moral direction.
“They no longer recognise ethics as a value. In discharging their duties, such individuals become mediocre, corrupt, bootlickers, rumour mongers, fault-finders and grossly inefficient.
“Their self confidence is gone as they will want others to think, talk or work for them. If they become medical doctors, they will wrongly diagnose their patients and send them to the grave,” he wrote.
Mr Chileshe observed that besides secondary schools, colleges, and universities, unethical conduct had, sadly, permeated professional bodies.
“On 28 April, 2007, the Attorney-General, Mumba Malila, stated that it was shameful that even some learners of the legal profession at the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) cheated their way into the profession by helping themselves to leaked examination papers. There had been examination leakages at ZIALE earlier in the year,” he wrote.
The ECZ, in 2013, confirmed that it had received various reports of examination malpractices from members of the public.
The Council argued that cheating in examinations was not unique to Zambia, but that it was a global issue that examining boards worldwide were trying to address.
“As we execute our mandate, the ECZ has endeavoured to work towards attaining a culture of zero tolerance to examination malpractices.
“We have, therefore, implemented measures aimed at preventing malpractices from taking place at all levels of education, and ensuring that those who have access to leaked materials are ejected from the entire examination process,” a spokesperson said.
The ECZ, in its quest to provide examinations of high international standards and credibility, set out to ascertain the extent and source of examination malpractices.
“We equally wish to encourage the public to continue being proactive by reporting any suspected cases of examination irregularities to the police, nearest education office or the ECZ secretariat,” the spokesperson further said.
Community involvement should, indeed, be part of the panacea to ills in the examination processes.
To prevent examination malpractices, school authorities, teachers, parents, and other important players such as the Church should pool their efforts to prevent acts that are not only tarnishing the education sector, but are a recipe for under-development.
On its part, Kalande Memorial School in Ndola recently convened a meeting for parents where the principal, Erica Kaluba shared effective methods of studying.
Ms Kaluba said teachers and parents should work together in ensuring that children are given a good foundation beginning from their formative years.
She urged parents to take interest in what their children do after school, especially their choice of friends and the sort of activities they engage in.
“Teachers have played their part and finished the syllabus on time, but parents must also complement these efforts by spending time with the children to give them confidence to face the examinations.
“The reason some children panic and resort to malpractices is that they lack the right preparation and tend to look at examinations as some form of punishment,” Ms Kaluba said.
She said it was regrettable that some parents do not take interest in school programmes, and yet they push their children for good grades in examinations.
It is another way to reinforce the fact that parents should have realistic expectations from their children, depending on the level of investment made in them.
Ms Kaluba made an impassioned plea to parents to monitor the activities of children in examination classes, especially when they express interest in private tuition centres some of which thrive on illegalities.
Like Ms Kaluba, other educationists and members of the public have cautioned against over-reliance on unregulated tuition centres which emphasise passing examinations “at any cost”.
In the past, there have even been reports of female students being sexually abused at some examination coaching centres.
The issue of examination irregularities has caught the attention of Government. Recently, during the launch of the Grade nine Assessment Schemes and Guidelines for administration and management of examinations, General Education Permanent Secretary Chishimba Nkosha urged candidates sitting for examinations this year to refrain from cheating to avoid landing themselves in problems.
Mr Nkosha said the Ministry of General Education will not process results of candidates who fail to follow instructions during the examinations.
ECZ director Michael Chilala said the council had made significant strides in eliminating examination malpractices, which were rampant in the recent past.
He was optimist that the assessment scheme and guidelines, developed by ECZ and Book World Africa, would help improve the education system in the country.
It is clear that all such the black spots in the education sector could be wiped out, and the sun could really set on leakages, if Zambians united against any form of examination malpractices.