MEHRD prelim report reveals cheating happened in exams
By EDDIE OSIFELO
MINISTRY of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) has released a preliminary report that some ‘cheating’ had taken place during the Form 3, Form 5 and Form 6 examinations last month.
A team set up in the ministry had carried out investigation following complaints of cheating by students during the exams.
Permanent Secretary, Dr Franco Rodie blamed invigilators and leakage of papers as contributing factors to cheating by students.
Mr Rodie said some invigilators normally gave answers to students during the examination.
He said sometimes the papers were leaked before the start of the exams, as such students have already seen the questions.
Because of this, Rodie says there is a need to control and manage the situation at the school-base level.
He said one way is for invigilators to be honest during the exams.
“Most schools have honest invigilators where they never give answers.
“This is the attributes we want to promote at school levels,” he added.
However, the cheating practice by students during examinations is not a new thing.
In 2009, South Pacific Board of Education and Assessment (SPBEA) in Fiji withheld results of Form 6 students at Honiara High School, Panatina Community High School and White River Community after it alleged they cheated in the exam.
However, the results were released after negotiation between SPBEA and former Director of National Examinations and Standard Unit (NESU) of the Ministry of Education, Moffat Behulu.
Behulu reiterated that cheating in national examinations is a major problem in Solomon Islands.
He blamed the situation on teachers who are not preparing their students or students not attending classes due to teacher absence.
Behulu claimed both teachers and students are resorting to cheating to beat the hurdle of qualification – and take advantage of it (cheating) and pass to another level of education.
