HARARE – The Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council said Tuesday that the O’ Level Mathematics Paper 1, which pupils sat on the same day, had leaked.
Exam paper leakages are common in Zimbabwe, typically linked to corruption by officials at ZIMSEC and district education chiefs for cash, or school heads trying to get their students ahead.
In a joint statement issued Tuesday, ZIMSEC, the primary and secondary education ministry, and police said that the extent of the leakage was yet to be established.
“ZIMSEC would like to alert all its valued stakeholders that reports have been received that there are candidates who have pre-access to the Ordinary Level Mathematics Paper 1 (4004/1) which was written this morning (October 18, 2022),” the statement said.
“ZIMSEC, the ministry of primary and secondary education and ZRP are investigating the leakage and have already identified some candidates who had pre-access to the question paper and are carefully tracking down the sources where the paper originated.
“The extent of the leakage is yet to be ascertained, after which the relevant authorities will make an informed decision on the administration of this paper.”
ZIMSEC warned candidates found to have had pre-access to the exam questions that they would have their results nullified.
The exams body said it had put its forensic laboratory on high alert to determine who was sending or accessing the papers.
Exam leaks have been a perennial problem for ZIMSEC, which is hampered by funding problems to securely deliver exam papers to some of the country’s remotest schools.
In 2020, a ZIMSEC clerk was dragged to court for smuggling a copy of an Economics examination paper from the printing press and selling it.
