Subsequent to the theft of some national examination papers last year, the education ministry had to pull additional resources to the cost of over N$15 million to re-run the examinations and to ensure timely release of results as initially planned.

The amount excludes costs at the national level and other expenses of the 14 regional education directorates.

Speaking at the Grade 11 Ordinary Level results announcement on Friday, the education minister Anna Nghipondoka said this has been made possible by increasing the number of markers and reducing the marking days in order to meet the set due date.

“It is no secret that the 2021 academic year will go down in the history books of the ministry for the unprecedented incident of question paper theft by some unscrupulous individuals that resulted in the leakage of question papers in some subjects at Ordinary Level. It is very disappointing to know that some people can stoop so low to cause such huge havoc/destruction,” she said, adding that the incident has affected the candidates negatively in many ways; mostly psychologically, mentally, and emotionally.

Thirty-two examination papers involving Grade 11 and 12 ordinary subjects were stolen, which led to the cancellation of the examination of all affected subjects, which were consequently rewritten earlier this year.

According to a report from the ministry, the trail of the investigation shows the theft of the examination originated from papers intended for the visually impaired candidates.

The main culprit of this theft is alleged to be an expert who was appointed for the brailling and de-brailling of the question papers.

All six suspects who are in police custody made their first appearance in court and were refused bail. In her update on the matter to the National Assembly last week, Nghipondoka said the ministry and the directorate of examinations and assessment have undertaken to strengthen the existing security and control measurements of the national examinations and enforce it meticulously. “Working with human beings and executing such a mammoth task requires the appointment of staff with exceptional values and integrity. Softer skills based on value reinforcement of what national examinations stand for is required,” she said.

Therefore, she reiterated that the ministry will do a gap analysis on control measures and said a risk assessment matrix has so far been re-visited to identify the triggers and close the gaps.

Top performers

The top performers in the 2021 Grade 11 Ordinary Level examination include Enobong Akpabio from Reverend Juuso Shikongo Secondary School, who scooped the overall best performer position, followed by Hendrik Smit and Mia Van Wyk both from Walvis Bay Private School.

Other best performers in the top 10 include Taro Samuelson from Windhoek Gymnasium, Max Feilmeier Delta Secondary School, Mione Garbers Windhoek Gymnasium, Aneska Volker Windhoek Gymnasium, Chris Fourie Walvis Bay Private School, Rhosta Lyatumba Jan Mohr Secondary School and Lize-Mari Harmse from Windhoek Gymnasium.

The Khomas region outperformed all the other regions and occupies the leading position with 12 out of 20 top performers hailing from its schools, followed by Erongo with four spots, Kavango East with two, Oshikoto and Hardap with one each.

– ashikololo@nepc.com.na