BY AMAJU UBUR YALAMOI AYANI
Examinations for the South Sudan Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) will kick off on Monday 18 November 2024 and the South Sudan Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) will commence on 2 December 2024. According to the education system of South Sudan, these are final exercises for both primary eight and senior four candidates for the academic year 2024.
Usually, when such examinations are indoors, candidates get committed to revising all recommended contents. Practically, it is indeed a huge task at hand that requires an individual candidate to spend a great deal of hours, sitting in a convenient place to tackle challenging topics. However, this tradition has become outlandish in South Sudan. Nowadays, candidates sitting for the CPE and CSE don’t bother revising their books, nor do they carry out extensive research to complement readily available academic materials. Instead, these folks keep on loitering around the whole day and snoring the whole night. Forgetting that they become horses in the race during examinations, some of these candidates don’t dedicate even a little bit of their time to see a page or have a glance at the examination timetable. The majority of them, for example, don’t have personal revision timetables and summary books respectively.
With this little observation, an interesting question arises: Why are these candidates not bothering so much about the SCE examinations? Honestly, they (candidates) have nothing to worry about simply because there is a godfather who is, from time to time, ready to come to their aid during these exercises. This godfather is known as “The Examination Malpractice”. Many South Sudanese school candidates have placed much faith in it. Consequently, they undermine their teachers, books, and other stakeholders. They have become complementary partners in practice. Hence, it can be asserted that as a pen is to a book, a South Sudanese school candidate is to an examination malpractice. These parties have developed sentimental attachments that may require concerned institutions to direct colossal amounts of resources to confront them.
I term this malpractice “godfather’’ because it is the one aiding South Sudanese learners with heavy academic bones to score amazing grades, something contrary to what their brainpower possesses. In this paradox, students work less and gain more. It is indeed ironic. In addition, it is this unlawful practice that has inculcated an unhealthy spirit in many South Sudanese school learners. For example, it is the one motivating them to skip classes, ignore conventional classroom attendance, and discount self-driven academic initiatives. Despite these contradictions, indifferent learners continue to receive favor from this unlawful practice in the form of high scores, which eventually qualify them to go to the next levels of education.
As the CPE and CSE examinations are lurking around, I am strongly appealing to officials in the National Ministry of General Education and Instruction, particularly those in charge of examinations to seriously take note of the examination malpractice. This practice has become endemic, yet it is a great peril to the quality of our pupils and or students. So, it must be confronted outright. For this reason, I recommend the following courses of action to be taken by the concerned authorities instantly. I believe that they are among the stern mechanisms to counter this disastrous practice.
- Change the invigilation system. The officials in the National Ministry of General Education and Instruction should modify the invigilation system. Since 2018, each school has been invigilating its own candidates, leading to widespread examination malpractice. It is a plain fact that teachers who invigilate in the process assist their own pupils and or students by providing answers to challenging questions. Unless invigilators are drawn from different institutions, examination malpractice will never cease in the education system of South Sudan.
- Create conducive examination centers in major towns and the capital city. The National Ministry of General Education and Instruction and other partners should create favorable examination centers, particularly in major towns and in the capital city. These centers may help curb examination malpractice. For example, places such as the Freedom Hall, the Nyakuron Cultural Center Hall, and Samani Hall at the University of Juba, among others will help accommodate a large number of candidates, thereby reducing overcrowding in examination rooms, therefore, eliminating potential aspects of the examination malpractice.
- Provide adequate support to security personnel and invigilators. To reduce the magnitude or eradicate examination malpractice in our education system, security personnel in charge of examination boxes or containers and envelopes must be catered to adequately. They must receive sufficient allowances and incentives during and after examinations. This is to win their loyalty and faith in service. As an old saying goes, “He who is satisfied with his job acts faithfully”. In previous years, reports from reliable sources alleged that hungry security personnel usually succumbed to other forms of corruption, especially bribery, an action which eventually opened wider doors and windows to systemic examination malpractice. Also, invigilators should receive similar considerations so that they will build a united front with security personnel in their fight against all forms of examination malpractice.
- Stop the early transportation of examination boxes or containers to states and counties. For the last six or seven years, states and counties have become major sources of examination leakages. In most instances, examination leakages evolve in examination centers within states and counties, and subsequently, they spread to major towns and Juba City. Albeit examinations are controlled in Juba, those centers in states and counties will still supply Juba City with examination leakages adequately. As such, the best attempt to undertake is to stop the early transportation of examination boxes or containers to those centers.
If these measures are taken seriously, and they are executed faithfully, I believe examination malpractice will be minimized in the education system of South Sudan. Interestingly, last year the Minister of General Education and Instruction, Hon. Awut Deng Acuil, and her team managed to curtail the malpractice. It was, in essence, a great development to celebrate. And as a dedicated and patriotic minister, she deserves a significant chunk of credit. It is my deeply held belief that she will maintain the same energy this year by curbing this wrongdoing during the CPE and CSE examinations. Examinations must be treated as national security assets. It is only when examination malpractice is eliminated in our education system that will we encounter innovation, discovery, and invention.
The writer is a South Sudanese secondary school teacher. He teaches Citizenship at Venus Star High School and can be reached via amajuayani@gmail.com.
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