Zimsec in fresh examination scandal

A potential scandal has emerged at Ntute Primary School in Insiza District with the school head and a teacher accused of opening an examination paper for some candidates before the actual examination time.

Sources said the incident has sparked outrage among parents who felt their children were being cheated and now want authorities to investigate the issue.

The incident, reportedly occurred on Wednesday last week, when the Grade Seven class was writing a SiNdebele Paper 1 examination.

However, Matabeleland South provincial education director Mrs Thumisang Thabela dismissed the reports, saying no paper had been leaked.

"I phoned the district education officer, who visited the school after an alarm and found that the children were only worried about the invigilator, one of the teachers who was standing near them for too long.

"I understand the pupils felt unnerved when the teacher stood next to them for too long and this is what they told the district officer when he visited the school. No exam paper was leaked," said Mrs Thabela.

But parents who spoke to Chronicle said the teacher (name supplied) opened question papers for some pupils, some of them her relatives, before the examination started.
They said the headmaster also went to the examination room and started telling candidates some answers while at the same time discouraging those who had written wrong answers.
"On Wednesday last week, one of the teachers at the school opened the Ndebele Paper 1 and showed it to some pupils before the examination was written. The next day the same thing happened and other pupils got to know about it.

"The headmaster, Mr Alexander Ncube was also moving around the exam room reading candidates' answer sheets and correcting those who would have made mistakes," said a parent on condition of anonymity.

She said the pupils told another teacher about what had happened.

"The pupils felt it was unfair for the head to do so. Some said what the headmaster was telling those who would have made a mistake in answering any question was stressful and creating tension among them. Some have become a laughing stock at school because the head exposed them as failures in the examination," said the parent.

She said teachers convened as news started spreading around the school and community that the school head and teacher were cheating.

"The pupils teamed up and approached another teacher to make a report. The teacher alerted senior teachers and the deputy who approached Mr Ncube to try and solve the issue," said the parent.

"After the meeting, Mr Ncube addressed the children and urged them not to tell anyone, saying it was a random sampling process done at every school during examinations. The pupils, however, argued that it would have been fair to use all of them for the sampling process," she said.

Another parent said they reported the matter to the District Education Office in Filabusi and asked the District Education Officer, identified as Mr Ntuli to investigate the issue.

"The district officer and a team from his office visited the school and asked pupils to write reports on what transpired. The head has since been summoned to the district office to explain what happened last week," said the parent.

Mr Ncube declined to comment when contacted yesterday and referred all questions to the district office.