Reports claiming the 2024 national examination papers has leaked will be investigated.
That’s the assurance from National Education Assessment Division (NEAD) within the Ministry of Education and Human Resources (MEHRD) in a statement today.
The Division said, it will launch an investigation into reports of 2024 National Examination leak.
This came after NEAD received report of form six math’s paper under a particular Education Provider and school.
This year NEAD has put in place measures in an effort to address the issue of exam leak but faced with challenges.
The measures included the coding of all examination papers and are managed centrally from MEHRD, especially by the NEAD officers.
Manager of NEAD, Mr. John Liliu explained that these measures are been implemented with confidential agreements.
He said, the agreement stipulates the exam papers will only be opened by contracted external supervisors and witnessed by the school principals.
“Each supervisor is bound by the confidential agreement and should they breach the agreement, they are liable for penalties as stipulated in Education Act 2023 and Education Regulation 2024,” Mr. Liliu said.
Under Education Act 2023 section 120 (b) it stated, the person engages in conduct that results in the disclosure of the information will received maximum penalty of 30,000 penalty unit.
Under the Education Regulation 2024 section 60 (1)(b)(i)(B) a person commits an offence in the course of the performance of those duties if releases the document or record, or information contained in the document record, other than as necessary for the proper performance of those duties.
In this regulation “confidential document or record” includes and exam paper, exam script, official marking scheme, record of students identifies and record of student results. The maximum penalty is 5,000 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment or both.
He said with the implementation of these measures NEAD can verify and track the leakage of the national exam paper.
“If any exam paper is leak, we will know where the leakage comes from,” he said.
Mr. Liliu assures that with the implementation of measures his division is undertaking it should address the ongoing issue of exam leaks.
He further calls on all EPs, schools leaders and teachers, examination supervisors and everyone involved in the administrations and handling of the examination papers to adhere to the regulations and procedures in place.
- MEHRD
