Education Minister Aseri Radrodro has confirmed that a Head of School in Sigatoka breached examination storage procedures, resulting in the theft of several Fiji Year 12 Certificate Examination papers.
Mr Radrodro said the break-in occurred in the school office where the principal had insisted on storing the national examination papers instead of keeping them at the District Education Office.
“As a result of this incident, the Chemistry, Computer Studies, Technical Drawing and Vosa Vakaviti papers were compromised,” the Minister said.
He said the Fiji Police Force was immediately notified, and investigations are underway to identify those responsible and determine the extent of the breach.
“Preliminary investigations have confirmed that the Head of School breached standard operating procedures under Sections 6.4.1.9.2(c) and 6.4.12.9.3 of the Policy on External Examinations and Assessment (2017),” Mr Radrodro said.
He also revealed that the principal failed to first report the break-in to the Nadroga/Navosa Education Office as required.
An emergency meeting was held by the Acting Permanent Secretary for Education, involving senior officials, to map out the Ministry’s response.
Mr Radrodro assured Year 12 students that the examinations would continue as scheduled, saying:
“The Ministry has already prepared supplementary examination papers for the four affected subjects, and there will be no changes to the timetable.”
He said the Examinations and Assessment Unit is reviewing all storage and security procedures to prevent a repeat of such incidents.
“I urge all Heads of Schools to strictly adhere to the examination policy to protect the integrity of our national exams,” the Minister said.
