Nine (9) teachers out of the twelve (12) who were investigated have been terminated by the Western Highlands Provincial Education Board for their involvement in helping students cheat in the 2019 National Examinations.
Secretary for Education, Dr. Uke Kombra commended the Western Highlands Provincial Education Board for investigating and terminating the teachers who assisted students to cheat.
“The action taken by the PEB is very encouraging and should act as a deterrent to other teachers and students in future.”
The Department of Education advises that it has in place strategies to contain cheating in the national examinations.
These strategies include:
1. Producing answer sheets after the examinations. The answer sheets will be produced after the examinations have been conducted. Therefore, no one should be claiming that they have the answer sheet before the examinations are conducted.
2. Severe penalties for both students and schools caught cheating. Any incidences of cheating must be reported quickly to the Secondary School Inspectors and where necessary to the police. Any student caught cheating on site or after the results are processed by the Measurement Services Division will not be certificated and his or her schools’ results will be nullified.
Teachers assisting students to cheat will be severely dealt with including deregistration and termination.
The Department of Education started taking up this tough approach a few years ago because it wants to ensure that the final examinations are fair and transparent and that students are rewarded based on their commitment and hard work.
Examination at times is a very stressful experience for students. “Parents and guardians, teachers and communities must fully support the students so that they do not resort to cheating during exams.
“I call on provincial and school administrations together with the Boards of Governors, Governing Councils and Managements to ensure that no malpractices are allowed in the examinations.”