Peter Nyanje
     MY TAKE ON THIS
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This year’s Standard Seven national examination results have given us another dimension in education; cheating is not the preserve for adults alone.The results show that we have managed to ‘recruit’ our young girls and boys in examination fraud. I will not be amazed to hear nursery school kids also graduate in the art of cheating in their examinations next year.

The increasing cheating among pupils established in the September national examination paints a gloomy picture, as the vice depicts a rotting education system that calls for a daunting task to correct.
If our planners’ concentrated on curbing the infamous practice at secondary and tertiary levels alone, they have to go back to the drawing board.

In the course of taking account of this new aspect as well, the planners may identify reasons behind the practice extending to grassroots levels.But why should we be worried with this trend? We have been grappling with examination cheating and leaking in secondary schools for quite a long time now.The war on these vices has to be intensified because the infamous habit is not healthy to political and social-economic development of our society.

A myriad of challenges in almost all spheres of life in the country can be directly associated with examination cheating and leaking. Incompetent experts found in many careers can actually be attributed to these vices.
We have for quite a long time now been lamenting over Tanzanians’ failure to compete with their East African counterparts and Kenyans’ in particular, in job interviews.

Poor proficiency and mastery of the English language has been major reason given associated with the problem. But it is also being gradually transpired at workplaces that Tanzanians are lagging behind in competency.
While Tanzanians fail to deliver as a result of spate of cheating and leaking examinations, Kenyans are ahead in hospitality industry and elsewhere.

The majority of Tanzanians excel in exams not because they are competent enough, but rather because they can manoeuvre and pass with flying colours.Their incompetency is exposed once they are given other forms of examinations.A research conducted by a non-governmental organisation established recently that there were standard seven leavers who could not read a Standard Two story.

There are primary school leavers who could not attempt mathematics questions meant for Standard Three! It is not amazing either to see these failures selected to join secondary education.We have also witnessed in some disciplines high level of incompetency whose roots can be traced from cheating in examinations.

Skyscrapers collapse while still under construction as a result of poor supervision if not expertise.  The same applies to shoddy roads and other infrastructures.The deputy minister for Education recently warned illiterate pupils selected to join secondary education to report to their respective schools.

The government would conduct special tests for all Form One entrants to determine if they deserved to continue with secondary education.But in so doing, in my view, is tantamount to treating symptoms instead of addressing the root cause of the problem, as we are all aware that pupils do select themselves to join secondary education.

There are examination supervisors, those marking examination papers and grading them in accordance with scores, which guide a committee in picking pipuls qualified to join Form One.

With all these checks and balances, how can we blame the pupils as if they were involved in all these stages? It is high time the ministry had done its homework and identify the source of the problem if it really wants to do away with it once and for all.

Peter Nyanje is The Citizen News Editor +255 784 211 716

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