2017 nurses exams cancelled due to leakages

By CHIKUMBI KATEBE

THE General Nursing Council of Zambia (GNCZ) has cancelled its 2017 examinations involving over 1, 700 students due to leakages.

GNCZ registrar and chief executive officer Aaron Banda said the levels of examination malpractices had forced them to take the action and nullified the entire theory session of the 2017 examination under the council.

“The council's primary mandate is to promote patient safety and protect the public from unsafe nursing and midwifery practices through regulation of nurses' and midwives' professional conduct, education, training and practice.

Against this background, GNC would like to announce the nullification of the November December 2017 GNC paper i, ii, iii, iv, v and vi qualifying GNC theory examinations for RN and Pre-Service Registered Nurse Midwives which started on 13th November 2017 and scheduled to end on Monday 20th November 2017,” he said.

This is according to a statement issued over the weekend to announce the nullification of the nurses’ examinations affecting up to 1, 797 students.

Mr Banda however announced that all practical examinations remain unchanged and would go on as scheduled from November 20-30 as they have not been affected by the nullification.

And Mr Banda has also advised all the affected students to prepare to undertake the replacement examination scheduled for December 11-18.

He explained that the nullification was prompted by traces of examination leakage brought to the attention of the council and the move was aimed at addressing the problem to prevent future recurrence.

“There have been growing concerns of increased exam malpractices at all levels of education which authorities must address with a sense of urgency especially that teachers have been caught up in the maze of it all.”

A Siavonga teacher recently sent shockwaves across the nation when he mistakenly sent copies of exam papers via social media, to a teachers' union WhatsApp group. He is in police custody.