Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mozambican Education Ministry has announced the detention of those allegedly responsible for fraud in the ninth-grade examinations in Physics, Chemistry, English and History.
The fraud was discovered in Milange district, in the central province of Zambezia, where the confidentiality of the exams was destroyed when the envelopes containing the examination papers were opened.
As a result of the fraud, the Ministry opted to cancel the exams in the entire country, since it is not known how far copies of the exam papers had spread. Using digital means, the fraudsters could have sent the exams all over Mozambique.
The Ministry spokesperson, Silvestre Dava, told a Maputo press conference on Tuesday that those reasonable for the fraud had been arrested and will be held accountable for their crimes.
“The first indications pointed to a violation of the rules on the handling, security and confidentiality of the exams. In Zambezia province, 12 people are formally implicated in the scheme, including the director of the Milange District Education Service, the director of the Nagor Primary School, the deputy educational director, technicians from the sector and two teachers assigned as invigilators”, he said.
He explained that investigations confirmed that the exams were shared before the official time of the exam via social media and internal contacts.
“Several of those involved confessed to direct participation in the premature opening of the envelopes and the disclosure of the exams. Two of those involved are detained, including the school principal and his pedagogical assistant”, he said.
“These individuals were escorted to their cells by the Milange District Police Command, where they awaited subsequent procedures”, he added.
According to Dava, new exam dates will be defined by the provincial education directorates. At the same time, internal audits are underway at the printing centers and schools involved to strengthen control of the examination procedures.
Dava stressed that the Ministry of Education has invested in measures to prevent fraud, including the organization of the exams and improvements in traceability. However, he added that the oversight of the exams also depends on the individual responsibility of school administrators.
“The Ministry trusts its staff, but when there are deviations, as in this case, accountability is inevitable. The Ministry will hold all perpetrators of the fraud accountable, without exception”, he said.
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