Exam official caught doctoring results

KIGALI - An examination supervisor is in police custody over allegations of altering results of the just ended primary school national examinations. Charles Ngabonziza, 48, the headmaster of Gacundezi Primary School, Rwimiyaga Sector, Nyagatare District in Eastern Province, was arrested by police over the weekend after a tip-off from his colleagues. He is being held at Nyamirambo police station in Kigali.Ngabonziza was one of many teachers hired by the Rwanda National Examination Council (RNEC) to help mark the papers of over 100,000 primary leaving school children who sat for the exams.Police spokesman Marcel Higiro confirmed the arrest, adding that the case has already been taken to court.“It is up to the judiciary to decide the way forward about his case,” he said.According to police, the suspect was caught at ETO Kicukiro marking centre as he was falsifying results for children from his school. He was allegedly found filling in the correct answers in the mathematics paper and doctoring the final results in the science examination.Ngabonziza admits the charges and has appealed for leniency claiming he was unaware he was breaking the law.“I regret for having done that. I thought it wasn’t illegal,” Ngabonziza told journalists on Tuesday at Nyamirambo police station. But RNEC dismissed his excuse saying all examination officials were aware of the consequences of cheating before they undertook the assignment. “Being a teacher was enough for him to know what examination law stipulates,” John Rutayisire, the RNEC Executive Secretary, said. The arrest of Ngabonziza brings the total of suspected exam cheats this year to ten.Among them are three other teachers, a nurse, three school security guards and two private candidates who were arrested early this month at various examination centres countrywide.Ends