Africa-Press – Namibia. A TEACHER, Maria Toivo, and a student at the University of Namibia (Unam), Namutenya Hamukoto, will spend Christmas in a jail cell after being the latest suspects arrested for the biggest exam-fraud scandal since Namibian Independence.
The fraud and leakage of exam papers was discovered in the beginning of December and is still casting a dark cloud over education integrity and disrupted the school careers of thousands of Namibian learners countrywide,
Toivo and Hamukoto are the latest suspects under arrest and after intensive police investigations that started in the Northern Regions now describes the two as “ringleaders” of the scam that rocked Namibians from all walks of life. The leakage was mainly for the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate final assessments for grades 11 and 12.
The two have been charged with contravention of Education Act 16 of 2001, Section 77 (1)(a) (2) Theft of Examination Materials and Contravened Section 77 (1) (a) Of Education Act 16 Of 2001 through leakage of Braile Grade 12 Question Papers.
The police investigation uncovered that Toivo The two Maria Toivo (47) a teacher at Windhoek Technical High School(HTS), has been responsible for brailing of question papers since 2007 till her arrest on Wednesday. Hamukoto who allegedly assisted her is a 26-year old Unam-student.
The leaked subject papers led to a decision that five affected subjects will have to be rewritten next year. The two appeared yesterday in Windhoek’s Magistrate’s Court.
One of Namibia’s well respected educators, Clementine Tsumis-Garises, Director of National Examinations and Assessment, is the complainant on behalf of the education ministry.
Tsumis-Garises said this is the most severe case of leaked examinations to since Independence and could have ruined the nation’s academic integrity if the Police and education authorities did not act so quickly and effectively. The Grade 11 and 12 are expected to sit for their exam from the 10th of January 2022.
The affected subjects which will be rewritten are Grade 12 ordinary level: English Second Language paper one (core) and Paper 2 (Extended), History, Agriculture, Development Studies and Biology, as well as new grade 11 ordinary level English Second Language, Afrikaans, Biology, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Entrepreneurship, Business Studies, Agriculture, Oshikwanyama and Oshindonga.
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