News / National
New Zimsec regulations, a nightmare for grade 7 exams
11 Nov 2018 at 10:11hrs | Views
The just ended Grade seven examinations started on a chaotic note following new regulations from the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) which caused logistical problems in the transportation of examination materials, it has been learnt.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sifiso Ndlovu said in some places, pupils started writing as late as noon.
"In some schools, due to logistical and transport challenges, exams started as late as 12 pm, a poor practice that Zimbabwe had never experienced before. In my 38 years of service this was the first of its kind and whoever is responsible at Zimsec must be answerable to this kind of arrangement," said Ndlovu.
He said the new arrangement had burdened schools with extra transport costs as the exam body instructed school heads to build store rooms to secure exam papers in 2017.
"We are disappointed by the fact that last year, Zimsec instructed headmasters to build storerooms at a cost to secure exams and this year, they did not put those rooms into use," he said.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary general, Raymond Majongwe said transportation of exam papers on a daily basis was a big challenge.
"The most disappointing thing is that exams are now being collected and returned everyday when there is no framework that enables headmasters to do this and the government did not create any fund that would enable them to do this task every day.
"There is no special position that was agreed upon between teachers unions and the government because everything is just being imposed from the top," said Majongwe.
The new Zimsec regulations stipulate that schools must collect and return examination materials to and from the cluster centre on the day of sitting to avoid leakages.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sifiso Ndlovu said in some places, pupils started writing as late as noon.
"In some schools, due to logistical and transport challenges, exams started as late as 12 pm, a poor practice that Zimbabwe had never experienced before. In my 38 years of service this was the first of its kind and whoever is responsible at Zimsec must be answerable to this kind of arrangement," said Ndlovu.
He said the new arrangement had burdened schools with extra transport costs as the exam body instructed school heads to build store rooms to secure exam papers in 2017.
"We are disappointed by the fact that last year, Zimsec instructed headmasters to build storerooms at a cost to secure exams and this year, they did not put those rooms into use," he said.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary general, Raymond Majongwe said transportation of exam papers on a daily basis was a big challenge.
"The most disappointing thing is that exams are now being collected and returned everyday when there is no framework that enables headmasters to do this and the government did not create any fund that would enable them to do this task every day.
"There is no special position that was agreed upon between teachers unions and the government because everything is just being imposed from the top," said Majongwe.
The new Zimsec regulations stipulate that schools must collect and return examination materials to and from the cluster centre on the day of sitting to avoid leakages.
Source - tellzim
