The Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Edgar Moyo has absolved the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) of complicity in the leakage of examination papers.
Speaking during the question and answer session in the Senate on 29 March, Moyo said school authorities working in cahoots with police officers were responsible for the leakage of examinations. The Chronicle quoted Moyo as saying:
We also have the police officers who are there and when these papers are being removed from the strong room to the classroom for invigilation, it is not one person who takes those papers.
The whole system is water-tight in terms of security. We have integrity issues by some of our personnel at the school level and where the papers leaked, there was a kind of working together in cahoots by officials at the school.
When people agree and connive to do a crime, usually they will succeed because there is no one who is going to let the cat out of the bag.
Moyo said the process of producing an exam paper starts at ZIMSEC offices and is automated. He said:
Our papers are developed by paper developers and then they are put into what is called a grade maker, which system banks the questions and which system uses random pick up of question papers.
There is no interface between the question papers and human beings. All those things are automated.
Then the transfer of those papers from ZIMSEC head office to our Norton printing press is done technologically and there is again no human interface. It is wired to the machines.
Those machines are just feeding codes and then the paper is run and again there is no interface until the paper is packed.
People will be just watching and papers will just be rolling. They are being cut, and packaged and the whole system would have been set, then the papers will go out.
The only interface is when those papers are then put into boxes to be delivered to schools.
… If you look at what happened last year, you will find that the leaks of those papers did not occur anywhere between head office, printing and delivery of papers to the centres.
The evidence that we have is that the papers leaked when they were at school.
Moyo also said most of the exam leaks occur at schools run by acting headmasters, who have nothing to protect. He said:
It is happening in the sense that in most of those schools where we have paper leaks, the personnel there are usually acting heads of schools and not substantive heads.
We have been talking to PSC to ensure that most of our heads are graded to substantive level so that they have something to protect.
Those who are just acting have nothing to protect and they just let go of things.
Last year, 5 156 Advanced and Ordinary level candidates’ results were nullified for having pre-access to examination papers.
In February this year, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Evelyn Ndlovu said the Government intends to appoint an Independent Commission of Inquiry to assess whether ZIMSEC is doing the right thing or they are leaking the examination papers.
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