Malawi government cancels leaked 2020 M.S.C.E exams

BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in collaboration with Malawi National Examination Board (MANEB) has cancelled this year’s MSCE examinations following revelations of massive leakage.

Minister of of Education Agness NyaLonje has disclosed this in Lilongwe where she was addressing Journalists.

According to NyaLonje, the examination will be retaken from 9 March 2021, a development she says will cost government K4.5 billion.

Apparently, the examinations which started on October 27, 2020, have leaked with Agriculture Paper 2, English Paper 1 and Biology Paper 1 being shared by different people on the social media.

When contacted on Monday, Minister NyaLonje, expressed ignorance of the development and asked for more time before commenting on the same.

Maneb executive director Gerald Chiunda says there is high possibility that the leakage was initiated at Maneb and there is need to properly investigate the matter.

 He has since expressed disappointment over the conduct saying government invests a lot in the administration of examinations. He says those behind leakage must be taken to task.

About 152 thousand candidates were sitting for the 2020 national exams which were initially slated to be administered from June 18, 2020, but were postponed due to Covid-19 which led to closure of primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities.

Maneno Chimulala

I am a journalist, educator, and activist with passion for telling stories about social justice, sports and political issues. I graduated from Mzuzu University. I started my career at the Maravi Post online publication in 2012 as an intern while in college. Upon graduating from Mzuzu University I was offered a job as Sports Reporter because of my background as a goalkeeper and rose to the position of sub editor. I also had a short stint with Nyasatimes, Malawi Punch and Malawi Digest. Over the past seven years, I have worked intimately with rural organizations and communities in Malawi on human rights, girl child education and grassroots development projects. With an academic background in education, I also volunteer as male champion for girls’ education under Girls Empowerment Networks (GENET) in Malawi’s South West Education Division (SWED).