In the media

To prevent the leakage of question papers and other malpractices, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has tightened the security of the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Ten cases of breaches of WAEC rules were identified, including people linked to rogue websites, while the suspects in three cases were convicted and fined by the court. According to the head of Public Affairs of WAECA, schools accused of malpractice will be monitored and confidential material and examination papers will be stored.

100,000 pupils have been missing from school rolls during the past two years. The Government has announced that a national register would be introduced to assess how many pupils were not in school across the country. The Schools White Paper announced that laws would be introduced to modernise how attendance is recorded, with a “national data solution” used to track attendance and provide a “safety net” for vulnerable pupils at risk of disappearing from school rolls.

To identify students accurately and easily detect any potential impersonator, an expert from Cairo’s National Research Centre called on African universities to introduce biometric systems based on fingerprints and to install scanning systems at entrance gates, examination halls and lecture rooms. An Egyptian soccer player has been recently impersonated during the mid-year exam at a private higher education institution in Shabraman.

13 staff members at the Ministry of Education have been dismissed in the Zambezi region after they were found guilty of claiming N$9 million in cash bonuses and additional payments. In order to improve payroll administration and identify any irregularity on the Ministry's payroll, a nationwide annual verification exercise is carried out.

A research team from the Canadian University of Dubai has identified a new approach to combating academic integrity using machine learning techniques. The new method applies an algorithm to identify cases of cheating through post-exam analysis of student grades from quizzes, midterm exams, and the final exam of an entire class. This technique can complement the work of commercial plagiarism detection software and provide a deterrent and non-intrusive alternative to remotely proctored exams.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has launched a new biometric enrolment and validation of teachers system intended to address staff shortages and prevent the use of fake degrees. Pre-loaded data from the TSC payroll system will be validated when the teachers provide physical documents such as an enrolment certificate, national identity card, letter of first and last appointment together with their academic and professional certificates. This pilot registration took off in 143 schools in seven counties.

The Director of the now-closed Christian University of Rwanda and the former Prime minister received a three-year jail sentence and a fine of RWF892.2 million (US$907,000) after he was found guilty of issuing cheques that bounced and for failing to pay the teaching and administrative staff. The Rwanda Investigation Bureau also arrested the former vice-Chancellor of the University of Kibungo for alleged nepotism and mismanagement of the university’s finances.

64 candidates were unfairly enrolled at the University of California between 2013 and 2019 because of their personal or family ties to donors and academic staff. The state auditor reports that the university has undermined the fairness and integrity of its admissions process and has denied more qualified students the opportunity to be enrolled.

A science teacher is accused of working in 25 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya simultaneously for 13 months and taking home approximately Rs 1 crore as salary. The police arrested one of the multiple persons impersonating the science teacher, using her academic records. The minister of education ordered a probe into the records of all 746 residential schools for girls. A First Information Report on the charges of dishonesty, cheating by impersonation, forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, using a forged document, was lodged against her.

Police arrested eight persons who duped teacher-aspirants on the pretext of helping them crack the assistant teachers’ recruitment examination that was held to recruit 69,000 teachers in 2019. The aspirants gave Rs1 lakh as an advance while the remaining amount was to be given after declaration of results. Cash worth Rs 7.56 lakh, mark sheets of many aspirants, and other documents along with a diary containing details of candidates were recovered from the accused.