Candidates who failed to register for O-Level and A-Level
examinations in November 2020 have been given a reprieve after the Zimbabwe School Examinations
Council (ZIMSEC) said it would open another window.
The relief will also apply to other candidates who failed
to pay the top up examination fees adjusted by Government when it announced a
new structure, with a subsidy of 53 percent.
Zimsec director Dr Lazarus Nembaware, while giving oral
evidence before Parliament’s portfolio committee on Primary and Secondary
Education, said his council did not want any candidate barred from the exams.
The committee, chaired by Ms Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga (Proportionate Representative) invited Zimsec to get an
update on the preparations for public examinations.
The May exams have already been postponed because of the
lockdown. Dr Nembaware said Zimsec was ready to move examinations to June, but
was waiting for guidance.
The new fee structure will now see parents paying $90 per
subject for O-Level with those sitting for A-Level paying $165 after Government
said it will pay 53 percent of the total fees which had been worked out at $190
for O-Level subjects and $351 for A-Level.
“We got into a situation where we tried to help candidates
to register through an electronic platform which we talked about on the radio,
but of course there are others who could not. We have said those who fail to
register for June, can you now register for November examination. Our approach
to it is whenever the lockdown has been eased we will open a window.
“We have closed registration for June and November, but for
November we are going to open a window so that those who were disadvantaged by
Covid-19 we will be able to accommodate them,” said Dr Nembaware.
He said the number of registered O-Level candidates were 60
000 which is 15 000 less than those for last year which stood at around 75 000.
“The reason might be many, but we might single out, maybe,
the raising of fees from $15 to $90 and $190 for private candidates. Also
Covid-19 played its part because we started scaling down operations in Zimbabwe
on 30 March 2020 when the nation was locked down. Parents, candidates and
headmasters had problems in the registration,” he said.
Dr Nembaware said in printing of the question papers,
Zimsec was compliant with all the health regulations such as handwash,
sanitising, observing social distance and disinfecting the area.
He said the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education
would also put in place health measures during examinations.
Dr Nembaware said dates as to when examinations would be
written was the responsibility of their ministry, but as an examination body
they were ready to deliver the June examination.
“Our duty is to produce the product, which we have done.
Now that the question papers are ready, we are ready to deliver them to
centres. We are going to relax a little, but where we are happy that the
question papers are going to be secure we are going to have more stand-alone
centres where schools will keep them, but where we have suspicion of abuse we
will put a facility where they will be picked up every morning,” said Dr
Nembaware.
Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Cain Mathema is
expected to explain how schools will re-open in the face of Covid-19 when he
appears before the committee this week.
“The issue of schools opening will be revealed on Wednesday
when the Minister will be in here,” the director of curriculum development and
technical devices John Dewah told the committee yesterday.
“The preparations that we are making ahead of the opening
of schools will also be provided on Wednesday,” he added.
President Mnangagwa and Minister Mathema have already
stated that schools opening will be staggered with exam classes returning
first.
“Schools will be opened in a staggered way like what other
countries all over the world are doing. We will start with examination classes
and finally Early Childhood Development (ECD) students because those are
difficult to control,” he said.
The developments come at a time when most parents and
pupils are cracking heads over how to best access online classes. Herald
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