Internet fraud particularly through social media has not spared the administration of examinations in secondary schools. In what could be termed as a groundbreaking revelation, one of the issues raised during the Safer Internet Day 2024 outreach program at Chipoka Secondary School was that some students fail examinations because they are deceived by fake examination papers shared through social media.
Chipoka Secondary School in Salima is a Malawi National Examination Board (MANEB) cluster center for six surrounding schools. Some students from Lifidzi CDSS and Ngodzi CDSS, two of the six schools within the cluster, joined the outreach.
During the engagement, it was revealed that some students have fallen victim to fake examination papers shared online particularly on social media a situation that normally leads to them stop studying to concentrate on these bogus papers.In his presentation, Centre for Youth and Children’s Affairs Executive Director Desmond Mhango indicated that it is the student’s right to access information from wherever they wish including social media. However, he warned that because of their age, they are restricted on the information they can access online.
On the other hand, he said the students should be responsible. “Don’t expose yourself to exploitation because when you are mentally abused you cannot rebuild yourself,” he advised.
The outreach is part of a national wide joint campaign by MACRA and some local NGOs to reach out to secondary schools with awareness messages on cyber security and safety as part of the Safer Internet Day (SID), a global event commemorated annually on the second Tuesday in February. SID 2024 was celebrated on the 6th of February under the theme ‘Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’.
