[attach id=251842 size="medium"]Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.[/attach]

At least one Examinations Department official will be charged with fraud following allegations of tampering with civil service examinations, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo revealed yesterday.

The alarm was raised by individuals involved in the marking of examinations for civil service executive officers, held in January, where it transpired that two department employees were given 26 extra marks in a “rounding-up exercise”.

A total of 671 of the 799 candidates passed their examinations. But two days after the results were finalised on February 15, those correcting the papers were instructed to reduce five marks because there were “too many passes”.

However, a second order was issued to deduct a further 14 marks. This hefty deduction raised alarm bells, Mr Bartolo told a press conference.

Eventually it transpired that the marks were not reduced for all candidates and some marks were actually increased by as many as 26 points, Mr Bartolo said. This included two employees of the Examinations Department.

As a result, at least one person – from the Education Department – is expected to be charged with fraud, Mr Bartolo said, stressing that everyone was innocent until proven guilty.

When fraud claims were raised earlier this year, the process of issuing exam results was frozen while the police investigated the allegations.

671

of the 799 candidates passed their exams

The original results, including other examinations, would be published this week and the examination paper would be available for all candidates to review, Mr Bartolo added. He said he would recommend that no fees should be charged as candidates were not responsible for the shortcomings.

Mr Bartolo said he would direct the Examinations Board to evaluate the administration of public exams and make recommendations to safeguard the integrity of these exams. Tampering could take place at any point during the process, he added.

He will push to improve the drawing-up, marking and moderation of these exams, pointing out that there were candidates who received high marks but had a note on their paper that said “spelling and grammar leaves much to be desired”.

The minister said he had also issued instructions to ensure exam results were not available in his ministry or secretariat, to avoid any possibility of tampering.

He will also push recommendations so that public exams are not held in the last few months before a general election.