General Education Minister David Mabumba says all examination store rooms will from now on be guarded by armed Police Officers.
Mr. Mabumba says this is in a bid to tighten security and avoid examination leakages.
He further says the ministry of General Education will ensure all schools start conducting continuous assessments which will account for the total marks during the final examinations.
Mr. Mabumba was speaking in Kabwe when he held a meeting with the Provincial Education Officer, District Education Board Secretaries and Human Resource Officers from all the 12 districts of Central Province.
Meanwhile, the Minister of General Education has implored District Education Board Secretaries and all ministry officers to ensure there is transparency and accountability in the usage of public funds.
Mr. Mabumba observed that currently there are a lot of audit queries involving his Ministry because the officers charged with the responsibility are not doing their jobs properly.
He added that he is looking forward to the day when the Ministry of General Education will stop appearing in the auditor General’s report for wrong reasons.
It won’t solve the problem. Leaks don’t happen only because some one steals exam papers. And Police are humans so they can be bribed. You need a waterproof system for handling examinations. Yes the whole process of setting up examinations must have checks. Ask the Britons they are good at this.
The Bank of Zambia should also now be re-enforced to stop Lungu and his puppets from stealing.
Make sure the Privatisation thief is also kept away from the premises.
Just don’t tell them that they are guarding exam papers.
I totally agree with @The real pope. We need a water proof system and this is possible. Other countries have done it. Take Cambridge or Edexcel or IB for example. They have a tight system in which papers are not leaked at all.
You are not solving the problem at all! The armed police officers will be the same people who will steal the exam papers and leak them for money.
It will happen before the papers ho into storeroom!
*go*
Good idea on continuous assessment – let them know that it is not just a one-off event, but all tests and assignments count.
But why ‘armed” guards – have there been “armed” leakages?
I dont think you are thinking straight especially on continuous assessment MR MINISTER. How is it going to be coordinated? This will be real malpractice as each lazy teacher will just add some marks to make them pass and avoid being seen as bad teachers. Our education is in trouble. Anyway what do you expect being in a country where we have no universities but colleges. Its laughable.
As if armed police officers are incorruptible. This kind of stupidity is beyond comprehension. If bakatekas can be corrupt nanga police officers?
I’ve proposed technology before, and I propose technology again. Time activated biometric locking mechanisms or dongle based locking mechanisms.
This is a very irritating and frustrating comms coming from the Minister of Education lacking in appreciation of the problem of exam leakages. I thought academicians were supposed to be more analytical than this. How many leakages have been a result of aggregated break-in or robbery? Hardly any, so having armed guards, even un-armed ones will not be a solution as the leakages take place within/inside the ‘system’. It is for this reason that even then the continuous assessment will not work as the system is compromised already from within the education system right from the individual schools up to the examination council so room for manipulation of the continuous assessment process is rife. You should go back to the drawing board to assess the route cause the leakages in the first place…
You seem to trust bakapokola. Wait and see. Nama cadres bawapo. The police is currently very corrupt.
Ba Hon Minister, humans are not to be trusted. The way traffic officers collect bribes in broad daylight is the way it will end up with those so called armed policemen guarding the exam papers. There are simple technological devices like motion sensors and motion cameras linked to several different security operatives including your office if you want.
you are worsening things Mr David mabumba