June exam paper leaked

THE Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) is investigating a case of misconduct in which the headmaster of Shangani Primary School in Matabeleland South allegedly leaked an English June examination paper.

The primary school is a registered Zimsec examinations centre.

According to sources close to the case, the headmaster, Mr Tariro Chiteure, was in charge of public examinations at the school and did everything from registering candidates to invigilating them.

Chronicle visited the school on Monday and sources said Mr Chiteure gave the English Paper 1 for June that was written on 7 June to a student teacher at the school, less than 24 hours after it had been written.

An official said although Mr Chiteure allegedly released the question paper after it was written it was still a leak because he still had the chance to insert an extra script with correct answers as he was in charge of everything and the other scripts were still at the school.

"He told her that it was an assignment that he wanted her to do for him. The examination scripts were still at the school. They were supposed to be sent to the District Education Offices at Filabusi the following Monday," said one of the sources.

The source said the student teacher refused to work on the "assignment" on Friday because she is a staunch Christian from the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

"She just took the paper and put it in her bag. When she opened the bag on Sunday, she was shocked to see that the headmaster had given her the examination paper whose scripts were still at the school. She immediately told her supervisors, who informed the acting headmaster, Mr Z Ndlovu, and the School Development Committee," said the source.

An official at the school said the following Monday, teachers demanded that Mr Ndlovu should make a report at Filabusi.

"On Tuesday, teachers refused to go for lessons until the matter had been resolved. This forced Mr Ndlovu to make the report. Mr Chiteure was on leave, which started on 1 May and is supposed to end in September. However, because he is a one-man gang in the running of Zimsec examinations, he came back to invigilate when the examinations started," said the official.

Another official said there were 30 candidates who registered to use the school as an examination centre, paying $10 each as a centre fee.

Another source said Zimsec officials came to the school on Friday last week and opened investigations into the issue.

"They collected all the examination scripts that were still at the school and ordered that the remaining ones be sent through Swift as soon as they were written this week. The officials said they would scrutinise all the scripts for the examinations that were written at the school to establish if there had been a leakage in any of them," said the official.

Mr Chiteure declined to comment.

"That is nonsense, I have no side of the story to tell," said Mr Chiteure.

Contacted for comment, Zimsec’s information and public relations manager Mr Ezekiel Pasipamire confirmed the investigation.

"Zimsec received a report that there had been a case of malpractice at Shangani Primary School, in Filabusi. Upon receiving the report of the suspected breach of examination procedures, Zimsec immediately instituted investigations," said Mr Pasipamire.

He said if evidence of wrongdoing was unearthed, candidates who sat for examinations at the school risked having their results nullified, while the school could be de-registered as a public examination centre.

"Zimsec has a zero tolerance to cases of examination malpractice as a way of ensuring the credibility of its examinations. However, it would be the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to take disciplinary action against the headmaster as he is not employed by Zimsec," said Mr Pasipamire.

The acting provincial education director for Matabeleland South, Mr John Jamela, also confirmed the incident. "We received a report about irregularities in examinations at Shangani. Unfortunately, I cannot give further comment because investigations are still in progress," said Mr Jamela.

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