ZJC exams are back

MATABELELAND North province has re-introduced the Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC) examination as one of the many measures the province has adopted to improve the mediocre performance which it has recorded over the years.

Government in 2013 once mulled the idea of re-introducing ZJC in a bid to improve the national pass rate. The ZJC examination was suspended in 2000 when hyperinflation pushed its running to unaffordable levels.

 Provincial education director Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni said her province was aiming to produce better results and further warned that school heads would feel the heat if they failed to deliver.

 "As a province we have taken several measures to prepare pupils for their final examinations. We are going to have ZJC examinations where pupils will write Mathematics, English, Ndebele, Tonga, Geography, History and Integrated Science," she said.

 "The purpose of these examinations is not to screen pupils to proceed to Form Three but it is to identify gaps and ensure that teachers work on those gaps for the next two years."

She said the results would be released after pupils complete their ZJC level and would be analysed at provincial level together with teachers, and map the way forward.

Schools in Matabeleland region have for the past years been producing poor results which have unsettled many stakeholders.