Punish culprits of GCE examination malpractice

Dear Editor,

T+( *eneral &ertificate of (ducation examinations take place between July and August every year.

The purpose of conducting these examinations is twofold first, to enable the people who didn t do well in their Grade 12 examinations to rewrite some subMects and secondl\, to enable those who didn t have an opportunity of attending formal classes at secondary school to write these exams.

7hese e[ams haYe benefitted a lot of people acTuire school certificates with good grades and ultimately enable them pursue tertiary education.

+oweYer, some people lacN confidence in themselYes and the\ in most cases dont prepare adequately for the GCE examinations.

To avoid failing, they resort to examination malpractices, the tendency where they are in possession of actual exam papers prior to writing them.

Examination malpractices have been an annual occurrence. Examination candidates writing under internal arrangement have not been spared either.

This has become a source of concern for the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ) and surely stringent security measures should be put in place to curb the scourge.

Just recently, 48 people in Mansa were arrested for being in possession of this \ear s *C( Mathematics examination papers.

If that was not bad enough, three teachers have been nabbed for being in possession of this \ear s GCE examination papers.

Being in possession of examination papers is a very serious crime and the culprits should be punished through conviction by the courts of law to serve the jail sentence.

Ultimately, this will deter the would-be offenders.