BY BLAIR MHONE
The 2022 Primary School Leaving Certificate Examinations (PSLCE) have started today 13th July with the Ministry of Education assuring Malawians that tight security measures have been employed to counter any hiccups that might affect administration of the exams.
According to the ministry, the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) is administering PSLCE exams to 266,639 candidates from today to July 15th on Friday.
Minister of Education Agnes NyaLonje says the Malawi Police and Malawi Defence Forces officers have been engaged to provide security in the administration of the exams against any possible cheating and other malpractices.
“We have tight security that will be provided jointly by the Malawi Police Service and the Malawi Defence Force (MDF). We can say that we are prepared but there are times when you might find that the system being very large, there might be challenges here and there owing to the many centres that have been set hence the ministry and other stakeholders will undertake monitoring visits and spot checks to ensure that all is going well on the ground,” she said.
NyaLonje added that special arrangements have been made for learners with special needs by providing them with amenities to facilitate their seamless writing of the exams.
“Braille candidates will write their examinations in separate rooms, with special invigilators and with added time while low vision candidates will be given large print papers, write their examinations together with regular candidates with no added time.”
“Candidates with severe physical challenges affecting functionality of their muscles will be examined orally and they will be assigned a scriber and an invigilator,” added NyaLonje.
Spot checks in schools around Mzuzu City have shown presence of security personnel and invigilators in examination centres with candidates so far writing exams without any disturbances.
Today the candidates started writing English 8 o’clock in the morning.