Inside the operation that compromised national exams

It began with questions over a handful of examination malpractice cases. Within weeks, it had grown into one of the biggest threats to the credibility of Rwanda’s national examinations. When the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) released the 2025/26 national examination results in August, more than 425,000 candidates at Primary and Ordinary Level had sat the tests. The Minister of State for Education Claudette Irere initially disclosed that 243 suspected malpractice cases were under investigation. But by August 30, the scale of the problem had become much clearer. The Ministry of Education announced that 7,188 primary school learners would have to retake the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) after investigations confirmed mass cheating in 254 examination rooms across the country. It was the largest examination malpractice case ever recorded in the country. ALSO READ: Over 7,000 to retake national exams after mass cheating More troubling was the ministry’s finding that the cheating was not simply the work of candidates trying to gain an unfair advantage. “Some of the malpractice was organised and facilitated by adults entrusted with administering the examinations,” the ministry said. That finding raises a bigger question: how did adults entrusted with protecting the integrity of the examinations end up helping candidates cheat? Accounts from two sources, one in Rubavu and another in Kirehe, offer a glimpse into how the alleged schemes operated at examination centres. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described a system in which teachers, head teachers, invigilators and, allegedly, district officials were drawn into the process. How the answers allegedly reached examination rooms In Rubavu, the operation allegedly began before candidates entered the examination rooms. According to the source, instructions were first passed down through a district-level education briefing before reaching Groupe Scolaire Rubavu 1. The school’s head teacher allegedly assigned the director of discipline, a former primary school teacher to remain at the school throughout the examination period. Officially, the director was supposed to help with kitchen duties. But according to the source, his alleged role was much more significant: solving examination papers and getting the answers into the examination rooms. The head teacher is also alleged to have brought several Primary Six teachers to the centre to assist, despite such teachers normally being barred from examination sites. Some teachers reportedly resisted participating, but the source said they were pressured into complying, fearing repercussions if they refused. A secondary school teacher was also allegedly brought in to oversee the operation. According to the source, artificial intelligence was used to generate answers to examination questions, which were then passed to the examination rooms. Invigilators, the source alleged, were instructed to facilitate candidates’ access to the answers. More than 100 learners were allegedly caught up in the scheme at the centre, which served three schools. In the aftermath, only about seven learners reportedly received marks, while the results of the others were withheld. The allegations from Kirehe suggest a similar pattern, with the alleged cheating extending beyond individual examination rooms. A chain of alleged facilitation In Kirehe, the second source alleged that instructions originated with the district vice mayor before being passed through head teachers to classroom teachers. A designated team allegedly collected examination papers, worked out the answers and distributed them to examination rooms. Invigilators were allegedly instructed either to ignore the malpractice or actively assist candidates. The source said multiple-choice questions in Section A were particularly easy to exploit because answers could be quickly generated and distributed. Artificial intelligence was reportedly used in this process as well. The source claimed that some answers contained language that appeared unusual for primary school learners, raising suspicions about their origin. “AI has terms it uses sometimes. We used to see AI words which are different from what is in books and what we teach. We also saw words used by students which were not at their level,” the source said. The source also pointed to examination results as another warning sign. Districts that had historically performed poorly were allegedly climbing the national rankings after what the source described as district-level “sensitisation” about facilitating cheating. The source stressed, however, that the alleged malpractice did not involve every school in the district. “Children don't plan to cheat, but they get facilitated without their will or request,” the source said. When teachers became part of the problem The accounts also expose the difficult position in which some teachers allegedly found themselves. Both sources described an environment in which teachers were under pressure to follow instructions from their superiors. In Kirehe, some teachers have reportedly been arrested and jailed, while several head teachers are said to have gone into hiding. The source said teachers faced risks both if they refused to facilitate cheating and if they reported it. Those allegedly directing the malpractice were, in some cases, the same officials to whom teachers would normally report wrongdoing. “If they tell me to facilitate the cheating and I give information that they are cheating, then they ask me for testimonies or put a case against me. I can lose my job because they may put that case over me,” the source said. The source also claimed that police officers were present at some examination sites and witnessed what was happening. The allegations could not be independently verified, and investigations into the matter are still ongoing. Ministry promises a tougher examination system The Ministry of Education has said it is too early to disclose detailed findings or identify institutions and individuals because investigations have not yet been completed. The Ministry of Education spokesperson Jean Claude Hashakineza said, however, that investigators had established that the examination papers themselves were not leaked during preparation, printing or distribution. “The malpractice occurred at the examination-centre level,” he said. He added that anyone found responsible would face consequences once investigations are concluded. The scale of the case, he said, was unprecedented. “The Ministry is not aware of any previous case on this scale, involving such a large number of learners and examination rooms,” Hashakineza said. The involvement of primary school learners, he added, strongly pointed to adult facilitation. Education Minister Joseph Nsengimana said implicated adults were being questioned and would be named once investigations are concluded. He said the case should send a strong message that examination malpractice would not be tolerated. The government is already considering measures to close the gaps exposed by the scandal. Under the proposed changes, at least two invigilators from different schools would be assigned to each examination room. The ministry also plans to review the entire examination chain — from NESA staff and district officials to teachers working at examination centres. “This culture needs to be eradicated completely, because it is not helping in achieving the quality of education we want to achieve,” Nsengimana said. For the 7,188 affected learners, the immediate consequence is a second examination, which started on Tuesday, September 2. But the scandal has raised a much bigger issue for Rwanda’s education system: whether the people entrusted with safeguarding national examinations can themselves be relied upon to protect their integrity. The affected learners are among 286,579 candidates who sat the PLE in 3,895 schools nationwide. NESA recorded an overall pass rate of 82.2 per cent. Meanwhile, The New Times contacted the Rwanda Investigation Bureau regarding reported arrests but had not received a response by press time.

News

Inside the operation that compromised national exams