News / Education
Zimsec English paper leaks again?
28 Nov 2014 at 04:16hrs | Views
THE credibility of the 2014 'O' Level English examination written on Monday could be questioned again amid revelations that the recently reset English Paper 1 could have leaked following a mistake by authorities at a rural school in Matabeleland South.
The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) had to force a rewrite of English, Maths and Science papers after they leaked at Whata Secondary School in Lower Gweru.
Southern Eye claims that it is reliably informed that students at Nkazhe Secondary School in Gwanda North sat for the English Paper 1 exam six hours before the scheduled time.
"Students wrote the paper at 8am while the official time was 2pm. When students at other schools came in the afternoon to write, they had already met others from Nkazhe who were on their way home from writing the exam.
"It's not yet clear how this happened as officials at the school have been tightlipped about the scandal," a teacher from a nearby school said.
"It could have been an oversight as Paper 2 was written on Wednesday at 8am, but obviously it will affect the credibility of the results."
According to sources, both the school head, who is the custodian of the exam papers, and invigilators are supposed to ensure they have the correct paper before opening it.
Efforts to get a comment from the school head were futile.
Last year Geography and Integrated Science papers were leaked in the Midlands Province leading to cancellation.
In 2012, over 10 'O' Level exams had to be reset after a school head lost exam papers while travelling to a rural school by public transport from Bulawayo.
Zimsec officials would not comment on the mistake.
The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) had to force a rewrite of English, Maths and Science papers after they leaked at Whata Secondary School in Lower Gweru.
Southern Eye claims that it is reliably informed that students at Nkazhe Secondary School in Gwanda North sat for the English Paper 1 exam six hours before the scheduled time.
"Students wrote the paper at 8am while the official time was 2pm. When students at other schools came in the afternoon to write, they had already met others from Nkazhe who were on their way home from writing the exam.
"It's not yet clear how this happened as officials at the school have been tightlipped about the scandal," a teacher from a nearby school said.
"It could have been an oversight as Paper 2 was written on Wednesday at 8am, but obviously it will affect the credibility of the results."
According to sources, both the school head, who is the custodian of the exam papers, and invigilators are supposed to ensure they have the correct paper before opening it.
Efforts to get a comment from the school head were futile.
Last year Geography and Integrated Science papers were leaked in the Midlands Province leading to cancellation.
In 2012, over 10 'O' Level exams had to be reset after a school head lost exam papers while travelling to a rural school by public transport from Bulawayo.
Zimsec officials would not comment on the mistake.
Source - Online
