Huambo - The 9th grade exams in central Huambo province have been annulled Wednesday by the education office, due to suspected fraud in the processing of the B series tests, ANGOP has learned.
According to the director of the education office in Huambo province, Mário Rodrigues, the fraud was detected during the written exams for the 2023/2024 school year, at Chivemba school, in the municipality of Chicala-Cholohanga.
The director added that the institution has become aware of this through complaints therefore decided to cancel the B grade exams, including those held on June 1.
The measure covered 9th graders from six of the 11 municipalities in the province, namely Chicala-Cholohanga (the point of the leak), Caála, Huambo, Londuimbali, Longonjo and Ucuma.
Mário Rodrigues said that, despite the situation, the Education office is continuing to create the conditions for the exams scheduled for Thursday and Friday to run smoothly, both in the municipalities with grade B and those with grade A (Bailundo, Cachiungo, Chinjenje, Ecunha and Mungo).
The director explained that the leak was discovered when some students from that educational institution created a WhatsApp group called "Já aprovamos" (We've already passed), where they shared the Biology and Mathematics tests.
In addition to these two subjects, the Portuguese Language, English, Geography, Physics, Moral and Civic Education, Calligraphy and Religion tests were annulled in all the educational institutions in the six municipalities.
Despite the presumption of innocence, there are "strong indicators" of the involvement of the management of the school in question, at a time when the inquiry process is underway to determine the real perpetrators of the fraud, the source said.
"We can only regret this irresponsible attitude on the part of the Chivemba school. Measures are being taken to determine the perpetrators, possible leaks from other series prepared for the exam," he said.
Mário Rodrigues ruled out "any damage" to the quality of the teaching/learning system in Huambo province, due to the fact that the process went smoothly and the incident only occurred in the 9th grade.
However, he promised to redouble his efforts to monitor the teaching/educational process, within the division of responsibilities between the provincial office, the municipal directorates, schools, teachers, pupils as well as parents and guardians.
In the current school year, the education sector has enrolled 842,734 pupils, 21,919 more than in the previous school term (2022/2023), at all levels.ALH/AMP
