Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) says anti-cybercrime experts from South Africa it engaged have uncovered five suspects linked to the leakage of three papers in the 2018 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations.
The suspects are an addition to 29 others who were already arrested in connection to circulating genuine examination papers and confidential instructions through a WhatsApp social media platform last year.
MANEB’s Executive Director Gerald Chiunda made the revelation on Friday in Blantyre on the sidelines of the 2019 annual review meeting for the South West Education Division (SWED).
He said the arrests followed investigations and findings by anti-cybercrime experts the board hired to find the source of the leaked papers.
“As we drew towards the end of administration of major examination papers, on July 4, 2018 in the morning, we saw three out of the 54 MSCE papers on social media and these were Chichewa Paper III, Life Skills and Science & Technology.
“A comparison of these three papers showed that they were genuine and were actually the ones to be administered later that day,” Chiunda said.
He added that the leakage prompted MANEB to hire anti-cybercrime experts from South Africa who did their investigations using their machines and were able to isolate individuals involved in the examination malpractices using WhatsApp.
“I will not divulge more because the issue is court of law and after the matter has been concluded in court, we will update the nation on the outcome of these particular cases,” Chiunda said.
He further said MANEB was exploring ways of having anti-cybercrime framework within its establishment to minimise threats emanating from cyber activities in future.
Meanwhile, MANEB has warned the public against receiving, relaying or sharing any MANEB examination materials on any social media platform, saying the malpractice contravenes MANEB Act and the Electronic Transaction and Cyber Security Act.
Yamikani Yapuwa-MANA
