THE Fijian Teachers Association (FTA) has called for students from a Sigatoka school implicated in an alleged theft of external examination papers to be disqualified from the Fiji Year 12 Certificate Examination (FY12CE) in the compromised subjects and instead be assessed using mid-year and school-based results.
The alleged incident took place on Monday night when an unknown individual reportedly broke into the principal’s office and stole the Chemistry, Vosa Vakaviti, Technical Drawing and Computer papers.
FTA general secretary Paula Manumanunitoga confirmed he was part of an emergency meeting in Suva on Tuesday following the Education Ministry receiving news of the incident.
“Our advice, which we stated in the meeting, is that all those students from that school should be disqualified from the exams, and if investigations indicate there were other connections and the papers were sold to some students from other schools, then I think the police investigation should be carried out and people implicated be disqualified from the Year 12 examination, in those particular subjects,” he said.
Mr Manumanunitoga also advised against hindering students’ academic progression, suggesting alternative assessment methods.
“We advised the minister not to stop any student from progressing to the next form, Year 13, and perhaps we assess them according to their mid year exam results, and other forms of assessment school-based.”
Mr Manumanunitoga noted that the minister holds the final decision on the matter. He also stressed the importance of security protocols for examination materials.
“I think all heads of schools should know how important it is to keep exam papers under lock and key.
“The safety of exam papers is paramount prior to any exam.”
Union backs ministry’s action
THE Fijian Teachers Association (FTA) has supported the Education Ministry’s pro- posed action over the theft of Year 12 external examination papers from a Sigatoka school.
The incident occurred on Monday night when an unknown individual reportedly broke into the principal’s office and stole the Chemistry, Vosa Vakaviti, Technical Drawing, and Computer papers.
The ministry said in a statement yesterday the Examinations and Assessment Unit (EAU) was conducting a comprehensive review of its examination storage and security protocols across all schools to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.
In addition, supplementary papers for the compromised subjects have been provided to students to ensure they’re still able to take their exams.
FTA general secretary Paula Manumanunitoga said elements of the incident required a prompt police investigation.
“First, the principal failed in his duty to report it as soon as possible, as soon as that happened, and from the teachers’ point of view, we do not condone any sort of collusion between the school management or the principal or anybody else for that matter,” he said.
“As far as exams are concerned, we support the Government in giving a fair chance to every student to sit for exams.
“So, from the union’s point of view, we are supporting the ministry in its initiatives and its actions, like reactions perhaps, to how best we could solve that issue.”
Mr Manumanunitoga suggested a change in the delivery protocol for exam papers to enhance security.
“I think in future, we would advise the post offices that all the examination departments of the Ministry of Education deliver the exam papers on the day of the exam because we cannot really stop anyone, but then the exam papers need to be kept in a safe place.
“If it’s in the examinations’ office in Nadroga, then keep it there until the exam time or one hour before the exam.
Then the ministry vehicle can just drop it off at the school, together with the chief examinations officer to ensure they’re safe and not leaked or stolen.”
Regarding the principal’s potential role in the breach, Mr Manumanunitoga called for immediate action if it’s discovered by the police to be so.
“If he really is found to be insisting on locking the papers in his office, then he should be taken to task.”
