Steer Town Academy teachers accused of CXC leak to know disciplinary outcome today

Three educators at Steer Town Academy in St Ann, including Principal Sharn Mangol, are expected to know their fates this afternoon following a disciplinary hearing arising from a probe into an alleged massive Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) examination fraud at the school.

Examination papers were reportedly leaked to several students in the 2022 May to June sitting of the (CXC) at the institution.

The school board is expected to meet today to determine whether to terminate all three teachers.

The hearing, which started on April 2, and ended last Thursday, was conducted by the Personnel Committee of the Steer Town Academy Board of Management.

Several charges, including neglect of duty, have been laid against the teachers.

According to a source, the board had overwhelming evidence to support the claim and board members are to vote today on the termination of the teachers.

One of the main witnesses in the matter had reportedly observed the students making corrections to their examination papers after the examination.

The witness is also reported to have presented recordings at the hearing of the one of the guilty party calling her and asking her not to share any information with the investigators as well as voicenotes to students asking them to bring in the examination papers.

Pictures of the exam papers that the witness had received a day before the exams were also presented.

On May 22 last year, Brian Bennett-Easy, chairman of the Overseas Examination Commission, wrote to the chairman of the school board of the academy and Ministry of Education officials referring to reports received of widespread irregularities at that centre.

Some of the allegations were that some candidates had access to live question papers ahead of the examination and were allegedly coached by their teachers before they sat the examinations.

Some students were allegedly able to amend their scripts with the assistance of their teachers after the papers were administered.

“The performance in Mathematics, especially, was at a very high standard and was not in keeping with previous years' performance. Some of the same candidates who sat City & Guilds Mathematics did poorly but excelled in CSEC Mathematics,” was outlined in the letter.

Investigations were carried out into the report and subsequently, the three educators had disciplinary charges laid against them.

They are also accused of failing to store the June 2022 examination papers in the fireproof cabinet supplied to the school by the Overseas Examination Council.

The educators were served between March 7 and 12 with documents outlining the charges.

- Tanesha Mundle

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