By Yiep Joseph
A retired Lakes State teacher, Joseph Wade Rech, attributed national exam leaks to delayed teacher salaries.
He argues that delayed teacher salaries have pushed educators to sell exams as a means of survival, questioning why the government is surprised by such actions.
In an interview with SSBC, Mr. Wade expressed that the government should not be surprised about national examinations being sold to learners since they do not pay teachers on time.
“This examination leakage is because of salary delay; some teachers sell national exams to survive,” Wade said.
“Those who are selling national exams are feeding themselves; they wanted to survive when the government is not paying them, the hustle,” he added.
He added that examination leakages are against that has to be controlled by the government only if they pay the teachers on time.
“Cheating never happened in our time, and the teachers are doing it now because there are no salaries,” he said.
He added that examination leakage has become more recent since the government continues to delay salaries for months’ despite the economic crisis facing the country.
Wade expressed that teachers need to be taken care of to ensure that they perform their duties and stop all sorts of malpractice around the education system.
He said that most teachers continue to leave the job for other jobs due to delays in salaries and a lack of welfare packages.
“I stopped teaching because of low salaries. I taught for 14 years, and what I was getting was small,” he said.
He appealed to the national government to pay teachers’ salaries on time to improve the system to produce a good workforce for the government.
Wade called on the government to support teachers, especially those who are older and have served for many years.
This week the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) exams commenced across South Sudan.
At the inauguration ceremony held at Juba Commercial Secondary School in Juba, Hussein Abdel Bagi Akol, Vice President for the Service Cluster, announced that 48,484 candidates are sitting for the exams this year. Of these, 19,933 are female, and 28,551 are male, with students taking the exams at 319 centers across 526 secondary schools nationwide.
In his address, Akol emphasized the importance of integrity during the examination process and issued a stern warning against any form of malpractice.
The vice president also called on teachers to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, urging them to act as role models by ensuring fair and honest invigilation.
“Any teacher involved in exam malpractice will face legal action,” AKol said.
He added that such behaviour undermines the credibility of the educational system.
Martin Tako Moyi, Deputy Minister of General Education and Instruction, echoed Akol’s message, warning candidates that the exams have been rigorously secured to prevent cheating.
He reassured students that any attempts to access false examination materials would be futile, as tighter measures have been implemented this year compared to previous years.