The Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) has confirmed the leakage of Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examination papers.
Students started sitting for the examinations last week and some papers have been circulating on social media platforms, especially WhatsApp and Facebook.
They include soft copy versions of English and Biology papers which have since turned out to be the exact copies of the exams which MANEB prepared.
MANEB has admitted that its examination papers are the ones circulating on social media.
Spokesperson for the board, Mayamiko Chiwaya, however, claimed that the examination papers started circulating while students were already sitting for the exams nationwide.
She also claimed that the leakage will not affect the outcome of the results. According to Chiwaya, the Board has instituted investigations to find the source of the leakage.
Reports show that teachers in Lilongwe have been arrested over the leakage.
Meanwhile, social commentator Onjezani Kenani says the examination which are still underway have lost credibility.
Kenani in a series of Facebook posts also called for resignation of MANEB chief executive officer and Minister of Education saying the leakage will affect children in rural areas.
He said: “Children of the poor from our villages, who study with the aid of a paraffin lamp and have no access to WhatsApp, won’t have access to these leaked exam papers. But we’ll see the rich – who are sharing on WhatsApp – score 6 points, 7 points, and taking up space in all the universities. In the end, the gap between the rich and the poor will widen. MANEB and the Ministry of Education must stop this nonsense.”
