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Former acting director for examinations bumped up exam results
Police probe on alleged ‘favouritism’ reveal Alfred Zaffarese – reportedly acting alone – altered exam results of two of the secretaries working in his office who failed the exams.
5 May 2013, 12:00am
Miriam Dalli
Miriam Dalli
4 min read
Former Acting Director for Examinations Alfred Zaffarese is being investigated by the Police for having bumped up exam results for posts of Executive Officers within the government department.
The police investigation started a few weeks after the general election when a number of whistleblowers reported alleged changing of marks in the whole process. The police probe, which focused on alleged 'favouritism', revealed that Zaffarese - reportedly acting alone - had altered the exam results of two of the secretaries working in his office who failed the exams.
Zaffarese told the police that "without them knowing, he thought they did merit this position because they were two exemplary workers in his office".
The two secretaries had originally obtained 116 and 99 marks in their English exam and 114 and 116 marks in their Maltese exam. Zaffarese went on to bump up their results to 120 and 125 in English and 120 and 121 in Maltese respectively.
Addressing a press conference at the Ministry for Education yesterday morning, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo refrained from mentioning the name of the persons involved or how many persons will be prosecuted in court but confirmed that at least "a high official" within the examinations department would be taken to court and accused of exam fraud.
A total of 799 candidates had sat for the exams that were held in January, with 671 successfully passing the exams.
According to the police report seen by MaltaToday, Alfred Zaffarese ordered examiners to reduce the benchmark by a total of 19 marks as he felt that too many had passed.
During police interrogations, the name of former principal permanent secretary Godwin Grima was floated by one of the examiners. He said that Zaffarese had told them that it was Grima who had ordered the deduction of marks. Grima will also be called in for questioning by the police.
Zaffarese however denied having received any orders from Grima insisting that he had acted out of his own will. He told the police that he believed that two female secretaries "deserved to pass".
A second examiner added that Zaffarese used to complain about "pressures from above".
During the police investigation, one examiner said that Zaffarese had instructed for the results to be published before the general election which took place on 9 March.
But what sparked suspicion was not only the fact that the benchmark was increased by 19 points, but that it had been Zaffarese himself who presented the final result sheet to the three examiners to have them sign it without it being checked.
Defending his position, Zaffarese told the police when confronted that he couldn't ask any of the members of this staff to input the results since most of them had sat for the exams.
One examiner told the police that Zaffarese was about to suggest "that some candidates had to keep their marks" when the examiner interrupted him and said results had to be deducted across the board.
The investigating police officers subsequently issued an arrest and search warrant in the name of Zaffarese. Examination papers were seized from his office while the former acting director insisted that the examination marks had been deducted across the board.
When Zaffarese was then confronted with the original and altered marks of the two secretaries, he first said he had decided to deduct 14 marks across the board to all candidates to increase the number failures, but at one point rounded up the figures to have candidates passing the exam.
He then decided to round up the figures to 120 for those candidates who obtained between 116 and 119, given that the pass mark was 120.
But when he was initially faced with the results of the two secretaries - in one case the mark was increased by 26 - Zaffarese refused to comment.
He then later admitted to have felt that they were "exemplary workers" and deserved to pass. He said this had not been done "on the basis of political issues" and that both candidates had a "different political opinion to his own". Zaffarese concluded by saying that the results had not yet been published and that nobody except for himself knew about the results.
The police also called for the two candidates who insisted that they worked just as hard as the rest of their colleagues. They also described Zaffarese as being "very discreet" with regards to these exams.
The two women added they had already sat for the exam five years ago but had failed - "and possibly, during break time, they giggled in front of Zaffarese, when they spoke about the possibility of failing the exam once again".
After examining the exam papers, the police also noted that a discrepancy in the English papers between the comments made by the examiners and the original mark they gave.
The high marks awarded jarred with comments such as "the choice of words and vocabulary left much to be desired" and "most candidates made heavy weather of the translation".
Minister Bartolo said that a thorough review of the administrative procedures and processes by the Examinations Board will now be carried out with the aim of increasing transparency and safeguarding integrity in public examinations.
The original results, to be published next week, will not be modified in any way from the examiners' result.
The examination paper will be available for all candidates to review, with the minister recommending that no fees should be paid for the revision of paper.
Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...
Emmanuel Mallia •
This is probably the tip of the iceberg !
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The main culprit in this whole issue is none other than ex PPS Godwin Grima. This gentleman certainly owes an explanation for giving in to political pressures time and again and putting the public service under the whim of the command of unscrupulous persons like this Alfred Zaffarese. With Godwin Grima as its head the public service has been going through a vicious circle of corruption for many years with top positions in the civil administration being given on a purely partisan basis. As chairperson of selection boards responsible for choosing applicants for headship positions in the public service Godwin Grima was certainly in a good position to accommodate those persons being recommended to him. Indeed, promotions at headship level were even granted to persons from outside the service. This was an unprecedented move from which a close ally of a minister benefitted. There were even particular cases where the scale required for one to apply for a Director’s position had been lowered thus giving eligibility to certain individuals to apply and eventually making it possible for them to get the position.
Great pains were inflicted on many honest, hardworking and dedicated workers who were denied well-merited promotions by nationalist diehards who were consistently appointed on selection boards. Here one can mention one of the many selection boards of the Department of Health placed under the chairmanship of Prof Godfrey Laferla that gave the appointment of Medical Consultant to four individuals who were not even qualified to apply for the post. One of these four just happened to be the husband of the ex-Education Minister’s daughter. This was certainly not a one-off case. In fact, under Ex Minister Joe Cassar top placings for posts within the Health Department have consistently been given to applicants who sympathize with the Nationalist Party, even when these were the least experienced and qualified. A glaring example is that concerning two promotions given over a span of year’s time to a particular health official after he contested the last European Parliamentary Elections with the Nationalist Party, to the detriment of much more qualified and experienced candidates. In these circumstances one rightly calls upon the Labour Government to conduct a full and impartial investigation into these flagrant abuses of power with resultant grave injustices in promotions given in the public service under the previous administration.
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A simple question which comes to mind is that if these two candidates were given an advantage because of what Zaffarese said they were 'exemplary workers' what was his opinion and what did he do to other candidates who he knew personally or who were of the same political colour of the former administration. This is important because of the power of incumbency in all government departments exercised on the eve of the last election and considering that Zaffarese wanted to issue the results before the election!
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What a mess. First 5 marks were deducted, then another 14 marks. Why 14 marks not 15? Then this man was not going to implement the deduction across the board. Then he decided not only to refrain from deducting marks to two who happen to work within the same department but increase their mark. Furthermore examiners comments on exam papers do not tally with the marks given. This is what we know, imagine the mess which has not been unearthed. It is clear that this advisor was at liberty to mess with the marks, and leaving everyone else from the exercise. This man has dealt a heavy blow to the credibility of local examinations, the career of those taking the exam and meritocracy within the public service. The Public Service Commission should deal with the case.
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Zaffarese said that both candidates had a "different political opinion to his own. What crap. Every official at Education know that Zaffarese was never of directorship substance. He was catapulted from a much lower grade as a finance officer to the post of director of examinations in 2004. When his contract was not extended for another three years in 2010 he made a lot of political pressure on the then principal permanent secretary to be given again this position, which he did. When he reached retirement age he was again engaged as advisor. So the examination department has been governed by this man for the last 9 years!
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A classic example of PN tempering with examination results was that of 1996. This exam was introduced to sift officers in middle management for headship posts i.e. directors, directors general, etc. It was a way how ardent PN officials were to shoot up the ladder at the cost of apolitical or PL leaning officials. You had officers who hardly attended the full 5 years of secondary schooling ending up with the first badge whilst others with a Master's degree were failed. This is the reason why we have had incompetent directors during the last 15 years. Directors who preferred to say yes to everything as payback and as long as they kept their post. The result is what we have: a bankrupt public service both financially and in human capital. The tragedy is that the PL is not aware of all this and is proceeding on established lines.
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Is Zaffarese from Fgura? He once called me 'hanzir' for another unrelated incident.
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That's why the ignorant always triumphant in the Civil Service.
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I fully agree with 'man in the street'. Unfortunately it is not possible to probe into past examinations, especially with the posts of Sen. Principals. These were crucial for the GonziPn government because now we have nearly all the higher positions in all the Government Departments filled with people who are only loyal to the PN. There were cases where in a few weeks time an officer was promoted to Sen. Principal and then Assistant Director, not because he/she was competent but only for the colour of his face.
The present administration should investigate into the matter.
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Unfortunately it is not possible to probe into past examinations, when the same seems to have happened. But then the PN was in power, Zaffarese was in the administration's favour (he never really deserved to become Director of Examinations) and no investigation was ever held. Some examinations, especially the crucial Senior Principal exam, produced some surprises - good candidates failing and dumb ones passing.
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people like Zaffarese should be given a prison sentence and taught a lesson and not just exempted from his position.
