By Albertina Nakale
WINDHOEK – The University of Namibia (Unam) Student Representative Council (SRC) has threatened to take the institution to court if it does not reverse its decision to cancel, suspend and declare recent examinations as null and void.
The cancellation, suspension and nullification of certain exams at Unam took place in the Faculty of Economics and Management Science.
A handful of Unam students were left seething on Thursday after the university cancelled their examinations minutes before they would sit for the exams – over allegations the question papers had been leaked.
Besides cancelling the examinations that were due to be written Unam management declared null and void those that were already written but under question.
The notice of the decision sent out to students says: “The following papers which have already been written have been declared null and void – Human Resources Management 1A, Strategic Marketing and Financial Management A. Further, examinations for the following papers, which have not yet been written have also been suspended with immediate effect: Management Information Systems, Operations Management and Strategic Human Resources Management.”
As a result Unam decided there will be no supplementary examinations in these modules during the scheduled period as indicated in the Unam calendar (June 23 – 27 2014).
Students will have an opportunity to sit for the examination in these modules during the second semester.
The exact dates will be communicated at a later stage after consultation will all parties involved.
The memo sent out to students also states that the affected examinations will be treated as a first exam and therefore only students who scored between 45 and 49 percent will qualify to sit for a supplementary opportunity.
New Era has reliably been informed that a certain Sacky Shilongo has since last year December been suspended over alleged leakage of exam papers.
“This guy is an IT technician and he had an access security password into the system where the question papers are stored. He used to print and sell them to students. He was then busted and he has since been suspended with full pay,” a source who preferred anonymity said.
Unam public relations officer for communications and marketing Johannes Haufiku confirmed Shilongo’s suspension but denied that his case had anything to do with exam leaks.
“We can confirm that Mr Shilongo was suspended last year on 13 December, with full pay. We can also confirm that Mr Shilongo is an employee of the university, working at the Computer Centre. The claim you make is false, there is no selling of question papers related to this suspension or any other,” Haufiku said.
He added that Unam is busy compiling information to charge him for a violation of “our policies”.
“Unfortunately we can only disclose the details of the suspension after the university has officially charged him – at the end of this month. To disclose this information before he has been charged officially would be tantamount to sub-judice and may defeat the cause of justice,” he noted.
On Friday, SRC members on behalf of the students challenged Unam mangement’s decision to suspend and declare the examinations as null and void.
“We as the SRC and students believe this decision was a rigid, ad hoc and unjust decision taken without involving and consulting the key stakeholders of the university, such as members of the office of the dean of students, the SRC or even the Quality Assurance Department. We are of the opinion that investigations that led to those decisions were inconclusive and done by the parties directly linked to the fiasco,” Ernst Groenewald, the SRC secretary for information and publicity said.
Students demanded the pending investigations be handled by an independent body that are in no way affiliated to the case.
“They cannot act as the judge, prosecutor and investigator,” said Groenewald.
Further, they demanded the three exams written should be validated and normal procedures of examinations continue until the completion of the pending investigations.
SRC speaker Stanley Kavetu fumed: “This is uncalled for, unjust and irresponsible. You cannot prejudice the entire students because you have failed to deal with the culprits.”
He added: “In our last demand we called for the immediate suspension of the University of Namibia registrar, Mr Alois Fledersbacher, who was just recently shifted to acting pro-vice chancellor for administration and finance. He has been at the helm of the office of the registrar for years and in the build-up to these examinations. As per this institute’s precedence to allow for the smooth running of this investigation.”
In a petition signed by over 100 students they gave the university until today at 10h00 to meet their demands.
They threatened if nothing materialised the aggrieved parties would go ahead and file an application in the High Court, having already consulted their “legal team”.