Cheating scandal damaged Jamaica’s, OEC’s ‘reputation and credibility’ – Deputy Director

JAMAICA’S CREDIBILITY and reputation have taken a blow from the massive Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) fraud orchestrated at Steer Town Academy in St Ann, in 2022, coupled with last May’s leakage of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Mathematics test paper, Mathematics Paper 2, which is said to have originated on the island.

Breaking its silence on the outcome of the cheating scandal that occurred at the St Ann high school, the Overseas Examinations Commission (OEC), which is responsible for the administration of examinations in the country, said the incidents will no doubt tarnish the country’s reputation,

“We have been running exams since 1887 - it’s been a while -and we have not been marred by this kind of situation, so there is damage to the reputation of the country.

“I’m sure the ministries of education in the region are looking on to see what Jamaica is doing and are watching to see if something else will happen this year, and we don’t want to be branded like that,” said the OEC’s Deputy Director, Sharon Burnett.

Similarly affected is the OEC’s reputation.

“Our record of performance and management of examination mainly is a matter of note, and so when these things happen, and in such quick succession, really we take a hit to our credibility and reputation, and that is something we cannot tolerate,” Burnett added.

The academic misconduct, which occurred in the May to June sitting of the exam, was detected in October 2022 and reported to the OEC, which conducted an investigation and found three staff members, including Principal Sharn Mangol, guilty of several charges and recommended disciplinary measures.

Consequently, members of the school board voted to have Mangol, and exam coordinator Andre Yeeshui removed from the institution following a disciplinary hearing. While Travis Yeeshu, head of the science and hospitality department and grade 10 supervisor, was recommended for a demotion.

Students allowed to correct scripts

The investigation found that candidates had access to live question papers ahead of the examination and were coached by their teachers before sitting the examinations, while some students were allowed to correct their scripts after the papers were administered.

The school had performed exceptionally well in mathematics, unlike in previous years when its grades were not so impressive.

At the same time, some of the same candidates who had excelled in CSEC Mathematics did poorly in the City & Guilds Mathematics.

Chairman of the Steer Town Academy Board, Annmarie Bishop, was contacted but indicated that the board would comment on the issue at a later date.

Regarding the mathematics leak, CSEC reported that a leak of the CSEC Mathematics Paper 2 originated in Jamaica and affected the entire region last May.

Owing to the incident, in light of the leak, grading of the CSEC Mathematics examination was based on Paper 1 and the School Based Assessment or Paper 3, the alternative to the SBA.

In the aftermath of the disciplinary action against the teachers at Steer Town Academy, the OEC, in a statement, underscored the critical necessity for all schools to follow established security regulations rigorously.

“We take seriously any allegation of examination irregularities and are committed to upholding the highest standards and international best practices in exercising our duty as examination proctors,” the agency said.

The OEC also reiterated its expectations for the security of the management of examination materials at schools for upcoming exams in 2024.

Its chairman, Brian Bennett-Easy, further cautioned school administrators about “the broader regional consequences of any deviations, emphasising their pivotal role in upholding the integrity of the examination process”.

He pointed out that these guidelines, “approved by the commission, are instrumental in averting any breaches and guaranteeing equitable and secure testing conditions for students throughout the island”.

Questioned about the effectiveness of the overall system that is in place to prevent breaches, Burnett said systems are in place, but there is a breakdown when personnel fail to adhere to the systems that are in place.

“The systems are equal to the task of ensuring fair examination processes, but what you cannot mandate is how persons will act, and the systems depend on persons for their execution. That is where the weak link is.

“So no matter what, if persons decide they are going to be dishonest, we will have a recurrence ... but we are hoping that we would have done enough work, that we have the conversations to show our stakeholders the necessity of holding firm to the principles that we really are charged to carry out,” Burnett said.

No new measures

In the meantime, she said the regulations remain the same and that no new measures have been established.

“What we have tried to do is to reinforce and to revise documentation and to make sure they are speaking the current language, that the intent of the guidelines is explicitly stated so that there can be no misinterpretation by virtue of the language being imprecise,” the deputy director said.

However, she noted that in light of the situation, a different approach was adopted at Steer Town Academy during last’ year’s examination and also at another school that is under investigation.

“The entire process was managed external to the school. The question papers were not kept there. They were not allowed to nominate a supervisor for the examinations, and they were not allowed to collect papers from the secured locations that they were held at.

“That is the same arrangement for this year. Somebody will take the question papers to the schools, collect the scripts when they are done. Somebody is trained and assigned to conduct the exams in the school,” Burnett shared.

She stressedt, however, that principals, as head of the institution and the custodian of the examination process within the school, must ensure that the examination papers that are dispatched to the schools are kept with the level of security that is expected.

The guidelines, she said, are sent to principals and are also reinforced in meetings with the principals and other relevant personnel to underscore the importance of maintaining the integrity and security of the examination.

Efforts to reach education minister Fayval Williams for comment were unsuccessful.

In the meantime, Burnett said the OEC had not received an update on the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigations Branch’s investigation into the CSEC mathematics leak and had written to the permanent secretary in the education ministry to escalate the matter to the highest level in the police force so that some information could be shared with the agency.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com