Written by Chinsinsi Cheketa and Collings Kalivute:
The Ministry of Education says it is confident that Cyclone Freddy that ripped through Southern Malawi and affected the ministry among other sectors, will not compromise performance of learners sitting for this year’s Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) examinations in the region.
Speaking after inspecting some examination centers in Kasungu, responsible Minister Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima said, the ministry intensified different forms of teaching and learning in the affected districts.
She said, “The ministry devised different strategies including, introduction of radio and online lessons so that learners in the affected education districts cope up with their colleagues, as such, their performance will not be affected”.
Wirima added that, “The ministry had serious remediation taking place to ensure that all students including those in areas affected by Cyclone Freddy are not disadvantaged”.
Meanwhile, Wirima said she is impressed with how the examinations have started in Kasungu, as no serious challenges have been registered so far.
Supervisor at Dwangwa Cluster Lexa Mvula said, examinations in all schools under the cluster have started on a high note and hoped for a continuation of the same.
She said, “We have started well, and we expect that trend will continue”.
The Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) had projected that over 276 thousand candidates will sit for the examinations this year.
However, as of Wednesday, reports were rife that some learners in districts such as Mangochi, Dowa and Dedza were yet to start writing their examinations, as their school authorities swindled examination fees.
In Mangochi, Police Publicist Amina Tepani Daudi, told us police in the district have arrested two individuals who swindled examination fees for about 52 learners, a development that has led the learners not to be able to sit for the examinations.
Daudi has identified the two as Timothy Maputu, former Director of Sunrise Private Primary School and Paul Kumwenda, Headteacher at Fatima Private Primary School within the township who have been arrested on charges of fraudulently obtaining the examinations fees.
“Maputu collected a total of K250, 000 from 30 candidates during December 2022, but later sold the school to another individual in January 2023 due to financial difficulties. Similarly, Kumwenda collected K120, 000 in examination fees from 22 candidates,” said Daudi.
According to Daudi, the matters were reported to police, after directors of both schools discovered that the suspects had failed to remit the collected funds to MANEB which led to the arrest of the two.
