Minister of General Education David Mabumba has announced new dates for the Grade 7, 9 and 12 examinations.

And Mabumba says his ministry has decided to replace all six Grade nine papers which were tampered with.

At a media briefing today, Mabumba announced that the Grade 12 Examinations will start this Wednesday 31st October and end on 30th November 2018.

The minister also announced that Grade 7 exams would commence on 5th November 2018, whilst Grade 9 examinations would start on 2nd November 2018.

He said disciplinary action would be taken against all erring officers.

He also cited the mushrooming tuition centres in most parts of the country as the major conduits for leakages and examination malpractice.

“There is an observation that the mushrooming tuition centres in most parts of the country have caused more harm than good as they are a conduit to leakages and examination malpractices. Six (6) 2018 grade nine examination papers were tempered with in the districts and schools. These shall be replaced. As a consequence to the observation listed above, the Ministry of General Education has made the following decisions; (i) Replace all the six 2018 grade nine examination papers with new ones; (ii) Resume the conduct of all examinations effective 31st October 2018,” Mabumba said.

“In this vein, the examinations will run as follows; (a) grade seven composite examination will commence on 5th November and end on 9th November, 2018; (b) grade nine examination will commence on 2nd November 2018 and end on 26th November, 2018; and grade 12 will commence on 31st October 2018 and end on 30th November 2018. This time table has been prepared to allow for replacement of the tempered examination materials. Disciplinary action will be taken on all the erring officers. The Ministry of General Education will collaborate with all line ministries, security wings and community to ensure the safe custody of and successful conduct of examination materials,” said Mabumba.

He revealed that the highest number of tampered envelopes were discovered in Central Province.

“248 schools administered the examination paper due to communication challenges. 77 examination centres tampered with envelopes of the 2018 Mathematics Paper 2 papers and some of them attempted to seal the envelopes with super glue or other adhesive materials. The highest numbers are in Central, Southern, Western and Copperbelt provinces,” said Mabumba.