The year 2021 will be remembered in Namibia’s examination annals as one in which the grade 11 examination timetable was set aside and the whole examination cancelled due to examination leaks. The examination leaks in the past were insignificant that only the culprits of this examination fraud were punished. Whereas the situation was taken lightly by simply cancelling the examinations, a lot was simmering. It was not supposed to go back to business as usual without some counselling to those who were affected.
Psychological torture
The learners who were affected had spent a lot of time preparing for the final examination only to learn that it was cancelled due to leaks. Maybe some students were not part of the scam, hence were innocent. Many of these students were subjected to lockdowns during the corona pandemic restrictions, which was beyond their control and comprehension. Imagine all the study efforts put in these examination preparations only to be casually informed that the examination was cancelled and could only be written later. This resulted in frustrations and students losing the taste of studying and concentration during the period of relaxation, which might have affected the outcome of their results.
Costs incurred by students
Some of the students were only residing in some school areas for study purposes, while their homes were many kilometres away from that school. This meant that these students had to travel back home to raise money to enable them to return and take up the cancelled examinations. In addition to transport, they had to get money for their upkeep again in those schools. This meant milking the purses of the already impoverished family members in our current hard economic situation. It is a fact that the meagre resources of many Namibian families were exhausted during the unexpected emergency of Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, cancelling the examinations and calling back the students to sit for the examination was indeed an option, but the Directorate for Examinations should have taken caution in ensuring the safety of the examination papers.
Costs by education ministry
A local daily reported that the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture incurred about N$3 million in the whole process of examination leaks. This money could have been used in needy schools like Izimwe Primary School and others recently reported as not having proper infrastructure, books and computers let alone libraries.
Disadvantaging students
The whole process of cancelling examinations greatly affected Namibian students who applied to study in some universities in South Africa and abroad. It has been argued that the Namibian universities could cater for such students instead of them crossing the borders in search of educational greener pastures elsewhere. Nevertheless, Namibian students have the freedom of educational choice whether studying locally or abroad if they have the financial resources to do so. This is in contradiction with high-ranking officials’ decisions who have been sending their children to countries like China, the USA, United Kingdom, yet no one has complained or forced these students to study at Namibian universities as they offer the same tertiary education like that abroad. In showing the seriousness of the situation, the University of Cape Town in South Africa wrote to some institutions in Namibia, explaining their inability to take in Namibian applicants whose results were still to be determined by an examination, which was cancelled. This also painted a bad picture about our examination system in which the whole examination had to be cancelled for such a long period because of leaks. It exposed the lack of capacity by the Directorate of Examinations in particular and the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in general to handle and run the examinations effectively.
Lessons to be learnt
It is a fact that such scenarios of examination leaks are here to stay, as there were such cases in the past. Maybe the scale and proportion of leakage was minimal compared to last year’s. Perhaps Namibia can learn from other countries how they have managed to cope and manage examination leaks. A good example which is done by other countries is to set ten question papers in each subject at a time. This saves a situation in case the first examination papers is leaked and therefore the next one could be picked and students are made to write that there and then instead of sending them away to go and wait for an indefinite period. During this period when the examiners are busy setting the examination question papers, it will be time wasting for both students and teachers who will be waiting to write and mark the question papers.
This is cumbersome and stressful for the examiners as they are supposed to be settling with their families for holidays. The Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture should have foreseen this scenario as many incidents of this nature have taken place in some corners of the world. The philosophy of crossing the bridge when we reach there should not have taken precedence over everything. The wise saying in Sifwe says, “mutiye ncokoso, mugirigiso ncecifo,” meaning one should take caution from a mere sound, for seeing the real lion roaring at you close by is dangerous indeed.”