Minister of Education Science and Technology (MoEST) has said it will continue to flush out illegal secondary school students and discipline teachers involved in the practice.
This follows wide spread reports of students who continue to be admitted into secondary schools, contrary to the ministry’s decision to abolish the policy that allowed teachers to admit two students each in an academic year.
The practice stopped because the ministry headquarters were involved in the syndicate by enrolling many students in national secondary schools.
There was another scandal at Central West Division where head teachers sourced names at a fee and the ministry headquarters used to write posting instructions for these students.
“This ended in 2013 when someone discovered this. Now perpetrators are ordinary teachers who are demanding money from parents to admit students. They charge as high as K70, 000 for the illegal admission. Such students are normally troublesome and with poor academic performance,” said a source within the Ministry of Education, who insisted that the practice was still rampant.
The source revealed that the students put on school uniform and join their legitimate colleagues, sharing the same resources. During examinations, such students register and sit for examinations as external candidates.
The Daily Times has learnt that last year, an employee who worked at South West Division’s statistics office was arrested for forging posting instructions for students from Namikasi. The students were being transferred to Ndirande Hill Secondary School.
Chichiri Secondary School head teacher, Emily Chiwala, confirmed that the school had illegally admitted students over two years ago, but it managed to flush them out.
“They were removed after the ministry alerted us of this malpractice. We even have the statement on the staffroom and general notice boards,” she explained, but could not provide the actual figure.
She emphasised that teachers are frequently warned against indulging in misconduct and the school conducts inspections through roll call using headmaster’s registers three times a term.
“Such students also used to penetrate the system through fake transfers. We are now alert and scrutinise every student who comes on transfer,” she said.
MoEST spokesperson, Manfred Ndovi, confirmed that the ministry was facing this challenge, but was quick to say it was dealing with it.
“We have managed to flush out the illegal students and put in place measures to prevent this from happening again. The teachers [involved] were also disciplined,” he said, adding that the ministry flushed out four students from Rumphi Secondary School last year,.
Ndovi said the teachers were cautioned and transferred to other schools. He added that the ministry wrote the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs seeking legal advice on the matter.
Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) executive director, Benedicto Kondowe, said the problem has been there for some time.
“I have noticed that there are lots of illegal admissions because the Ministry of Education’s monitoring system is very weak. Worse still, the ministry resorts to transferring teachers but this issue can’t be solved this way,” he noted.
Kondowe observed that, through this trend, students who are poor but do not have political connections and economic muscle are denied their right to education.
“It’s the obligation of every government to protect vulnerable people. This is an indication of failure,” he said.
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