The Chronicle
By Pamela Shumba
30 October 2012
AN Accounts and Mathematics teacher from Bulawayo allegedly wrote an examination on behalf of a candidate who had promised to pay him $40.
The teacher Edward Moyo (40) and the candidate Phephile Dlamini (29) from Entumbane have since been arrested.
Moyo and Dlamini were allegedly caught cheating at Methodist College in Makokoba during the English Paper 1 examination on Monday morning.
Pupils who spoke to Chronicle expressed disappointment in the laxity of rules at the college and appealed for Government intervention.
“It is painful to know that some people are cheating during examinations when some of us spend sleepless nights trying to shape an honest future for ourselves,” said an infuriated pupil.
“We hope that justice will prevail to the two. The Government should also do something to avoid such incidents because this is jeopardising our education system,” said a Form Four pupil who spoke on condition of anonymity. When Chronicle visited the college yesterday afternoon, pupils and vendors around the school were talking about the incident. The pupils said the development could be a sign that more cheating was being done with “difficult” papers such as Mathematics and Science. A vendor who also spoke on condition of anonymity said the teacher was picked up by police from Mzilikazi Police Station.
“We heard that a teacher was caught cheating during the English examination and we later heard that he had been arrested and taken to Mzilikazi Police Station.
“The pupils at the college were devastated by the incident and continued to condemn the institution for not protecting the examination papers from corrupt education officials,” said the vendor.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo confirmed the arrest of Dlamini and Moyo and said investigations were underway.
“We are investigating a case where a 40-year-old teacher was caught writing an examination for an O-level candidate. The two are detained at Mzilikazi Police Station,” he said.
This year’s examinations have been riddled with controversy as two weeks ago, the acting headmaster at Sijawugwe Secondary School in Siganda, Bubi District, Mr Panganai Zimunhu, allegedly lost 13 examination papers.
Zimsec had to reset them.
Last year, the examination body threatened to deregister examination centres that were implicated in examination leaks.
Zimsec was concerned that such tendencies made it lose its credibility, hence the organisation had to move to maintain standards, a pure reputation and the credibility that it had worked hard to build over the years.
In a related matter, our Harare Bureau reports that parents stormed an examination room at St Peters Kubatana High School in Highfield yesterday protesting against the barring of their children from writing exams over non-payment of tuition fees.
They reportedly bulldozed their way into the school’s Great Hall where an ‘O’ Level Shona Paper 1 final examination was being written.
The parents allegedly manhandled the deputy headmaster Mr Simbarashe Mavetera who had barred the pupils from writing the paper.
Harare provincial education director Mr Calvin Mazula confirmed the incident.
He said he had ordered an investigation into the issue.
“It is true that there were some disturbances involving parents and school authorities, but I am yet to get a full report from the district education officer who went on the ground,” he said.
Mr Mazula said it appeared that one of the parents was not happy with a payment plan that she was offered by the school.
He said she then approached the examination hall while shouting.
“It appears the issue was overdramatised,” he said.
“Schools must not send away pupils because the contract for writing examinations is between Zimsec and the pupil.”
Teachers at St Peters Kubatana said the parents left the school only after Mr Mavetera gave them assurances that he would no longer turn away the pupils.
They waited until the pupils were readmitted into the examination room before leaving.
The pupils owe the Roman Catholic-run school between $250 and $300 each.
The teachers said Mr Mavetera started turning away defaulting pupils on Monday when they were writing the English Paper 1.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said school authorities should not turn away pupils over non-payment of tuition fees.
He said the schools could only withhold the examination results until the pupils cleared the arrears.
“The Government policy is that no child eligible to write the examinations should be sent away. Any headmaster doing this will be in breach of the policy and will face disciplinary action,” said Minister Coltart.
He said parents should engage district education officers instead of confronting school authorities.
“I don’t support parents and guardians who disrupt exams for other innocent pupils,” said Minister Coltart.
“If they do not find any joy at the district level they should approach provincial offices and subsequently the permanent secretary’s office.”
There are several reports of schools barring pupils from writing public examinations because of outstanding levies and fees.