Maneb dumps exams printer

Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) is said to have engaged a United Kingdom (UK) renowned examinations printing company Stephen Austin and Sons to re-print the botched 2007 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations. Malawi News has established.

Government, in a press release signed by the Principal Secretary of Education Anthony Livuza this week ordered the re-admission of five papers of the 54 papers that 2007 candidates wrote in the just ended examinations.

Malawi News source at Maneb said, at the meeting that was held in Lilongwe, Maneb officials agreed that they should engage the British printers to print the five papers that are expected to be re-written.

“They are still working on the papers but are in constant contact with the UK based printers Stephen Austin and Sons,” he said.

Maneb this year changed examinations printers from the traditional printer Stephen Austin and Sons for the South African printing company Universal Printers, a thing which some quarters believe to have led to the massive leakages of the examinations.

Government, through the Ministry of Education admitted the leakage of examinations which Maneb Chief Executive Matthews Matemba dismissed as bogus when it was first revealed that there was a leakage.

“The decision to nullify, redevelop and re-administer the examination has been made so that those candidates who were exposed to leaked examination papers do not have an unfair advantage over their colleagues who wrote the same examination without any assistance,” said part of the press release.

Government ordered that the new papers to the re-administered over three days in mid-December, 2007 and the subjects concerned are English I, Biology I, Chichewa II, Agriculture I and History II.  
It is known up to now why Maneb switched printers and efforts to contact Maneb officials proved futile as Matemba’s telephone went unanswered.

Deputy Minister of Education Olive Masanza said the ball was now in Maneb’s court to make sure that the examinations were as secured as possible.