CHEATING RESULTS OUT

FORM SEVEN 2009 placements of three high schools alleged to have cheated in last year’s Pacific Senior Secondary Certificate (PSSC) have been released.
Results of form six students from Honiara High School, Panatina Community High School and White River Community were delayed due to alleged cheating involving teacher (s) and student (s).
Director of National Examinations and Standard Unit (NESU) of the Ministry of Education Mr Moffat Behulu said the South Pacific Board of Education and Assessment (SPBEA) in Fiji had withheld the results.
“The results were finally released by SPBEA this week and placements were done immediately by NESU in consultation with principals of Honiara High School and King George Sixth,” said Behulu.
He added he spent the last two weeks negotiating with SPBEA for the release of the results after the cheating saga.
“Upon SPBEA’s recommendation after evidence found during investigations, two students from one of the three schools have been disqualified for alleged cheating.
“A teacher will also be investigated for alleged disclosure of PSSC examinations paper.”
Mr Behulu reiterated that cheating in national examinations is a major problem in Solomon Islands.
“But there are reasons why teachers and students resort to cheating.
“One reason is that teachers are not preparing their students or students not attending classes due to teacher absence.
“Both teachers and students are resorting to cheating to beat the hurdle of qualification – and take advantage of it (cheating) and pass to a another level of education,” said Behulu.
He noted Honiara High School was littered with exam papers at the end of PSSC examinations last year.
“These show students actually get access to examinations papers before their examinations, and some of these papers were collected by some teachers and handed over to NESU.”
Behulu said the disclosure of national examinations papers or answers to students is punishable under SI Education Act 1978.
He said this only covers teachers and if found guilty, it may result in imprisonment, fine or both.
As for students found to be engaged in cheating, their results will be disqualified automatically, said the NESU Director.
Apart from the delayed results, Behulu said Internal Assessments (IA) of Form Six students in some schools were not submitted by their teachers.
“This really affects the examination results of the students.
“An example is that in English, there is a 50% IA and 50% in examination.
“Thus if IAs are not submitted by the English teacher, the possible score a student can get in his or her English paper is 50 which is a grade 6 or 7 - a failing grade.
“And a student needs a grade 3 and below to qualify for a university foundation course,” Behulu explained.
Furthermore the NESU Director has hinted that as of 2009, PSSC examinations along with other national examinations will be centrally supervised by the NESU.
Behulu has also recommended to his superiors in the Education Ministry that the quality of form six schools in Honiara be improved comprehensively.