Education Ministry suspends final exams due to leakage

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The Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture announced on Wednesday that it suspended the October/November 2021 exams due to the leakage of the Grade 11 and 12 Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate (NSSCO) papers.

Chief Public Relations Officer, Sem Shino in a media statement issued on Wednesday, said: “The ministry has learned with great concern about an incident of a suspected leakage of some examination question papers for the October/November 2021 NSSCO,” he said.

Three criminal cases have been opened with the Namibian Police in the localities where the suspected cases have occurred – Ongwediva and Ondangwa.

Shino said the police investigations have revealed that more examination papers comprising different subjects of the NSSCO, as well as the Revised Curriculum Ordinary Level Grade 11, could also be affected.

“Ten suspects have been apprehended of which eight are released on bail, while two who are foreign nationals are still in custody,” he stated.

He said the investigation so far has led them to understand that the source of the leakage could have been through the examination papers which were intended for the visually impaired candidates.

Shino said in order to protect the integrity of the qualifications, the examinations will have to be rewritten in January and February 2022.

The affected subjects per grades are:

Grade 12 Ordinary Level

English 2nd language paper 1 (core) and paper 2 (extended)

History papers 1 and 2

Agriculture papers 1 and 2

Development Studies 1, 2 and 3

Biology papers 1, 2 and 3

Grade 11 Ordinary Level

English 2nd language paper 1

Afrikaans 2nd language paper 1

Biology papers 1, 2 and 3

Mathematics papers 1 and 2

Physics papers 1, 2 and 3

Chemistry papers 1, 2 and 3

Entrepreneurship paper 1

Business Studies papers 1 and 2

Agriculture paper 1

Oshikwanyama and Oshindonga papers 1, 2 and 3

Meanwhile, the ministry earlier announced that it decided on early closures of schools in order to assist regions to prepare for the continuation of national examinations in the 2022 school year.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency