By Oketayot Santo
The Examination for the Certificate of Secondary Education has kick-off on Monday across the country.
Speaking during the ringing of the bell to mark the start of the exams in Juba, Simon Nyok Deng, Secretary General of the South Sudan Examination Council said 35,459 candidates are sitting for the exams, out of which over 12,000 are girls.
“Over 12,000 girls partaking in this exams and so we are happy the number keeps rising and we hope that as we continue to invest in education the ratio between boys and girls will narrow up and we expecting that gap to close and this is what the government is pushing for 12,000 girls is a good number and we wish them all the best in the exams” Nyok said.
The official warned candidates, teachers, invigilators and security operatives to refrain from malpractice saying the consequences may lead to up to four years imprisonment.
“The punishment is severe, we have people in Jail now that were caught and are arraigned in court, you can serve up to four years in jail if you are found to have breached any of our rules whether you are a candidates, a teacher or anybody even the security agencies they know the consequences are so severe, if anyone is caught involved in trying to give a child any endued advantage over the others will be dealt with” Nyok said.
He revealed that they have deployed security agencies all over the examination centres across the country to curb examination malpractices.
“We have done is that we have deployed in every examination station across the nation security officers right from Juba here they are working together with state security agencies to ensure that the playfield is level no child must have endured advantage over the other so all forms of exams malpractice are sealed off and they curbed” Nyok noted.
Nyok revealed that 47 candidates from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area and over 1,500 are sitting for their exams from Juba as a result of conflict and insecurity in their areas.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor of Central Equatoria State Sarah Nene called on the candidates to be confident and wish them luck.
“You are going to have examination, be calm, you have been sitting for examination and this is not the first time so be calm sit open the paper then do the requirement that you are going to make it and my wish is for you all to get a good result and I want to see you all in the different universities even abroad”
“My wish is in Central Equatoria State to enter into the best 10 candidates because you are in the city and city cannot be the last, I wish you success, so do your best struggle so that we celebrate your success after two months” Nene wished.
