Out of 117 prisoners who registered to sit for the 2020 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations, only 75 are taking part.

This year’s examinations, currently in progress across the country, began on Tuesday, October 27.

Malawi Prisons Spokesperson, Chimwemwe Shaba, said the number of candidates from the prison has dropped due to among other things, the government initiative of pardoning some of the inmates as one way of decongesting the reformatory facilities due to COVID-19 pandemic, illnesses and deaths.

Shawa said: “We have had a number of issues such as the presidential pardoning of the inmates due to COVID-19 pandemic a development which let some registered candidates left prisons.”

However, Shawa said the examinations have started well in all the six centers being used by the prisoners across the country.

According to Shaba, there were supposed to have seven centers to administer the examinations but one of them in Mzimba has failed to meet MANEB standards after failing to reach recommended minimum number of 10 candidates.

Meanwhile, candidates from Mzimba prison have been transferred to Mzuzu prison to use the facility as their examination center.

Currently, the six operating examination centers include; Maula and Kachere prisons in Lilongwe, Zomba Central Prison, Chichiri Prison in Blantyre and Bvumbwe Prison in Thyolo.

Shawa has also commended organizations such as Mindset Change Development in Prisons who came to their rescue with education materials.