Student sues Zimsec over his Mathematics results

THE Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) has been taken to court by an Ordinary Level candidate who failed to obtain his Mathematics results after the college he had registered with was disqualified for cheating.

The candidate, Tatenda Chisango, cited Zimsec and wants an order for the decision to nullify his results for the Mathematics examination at Danbrook College be held irregular and set aside.

He also wants an order for Zimsec to release his results within seven days of granting of the order. Chisango registered for the Mathematics examination at Danbrook College as an external student in June last year and did not encounter any problems on the day of the examination.

The court heard when he went to collect his results he was advised that Zimsec had nullified all results because there was cheating at Danbrook. He made efforts to get official communication from Zimsec, but the college could not assist him further.

"The respondent as an administrative authority subjected me to unfair authority and decision making which affected my rights. "The decision by the respondent affected my rights in that there was never an investigation on the allegations of cheating," Chisango argued.

"The investigation could definitely have shown that there were some candidates who were not students at the college, but just external candidates who did not participate in the cheating."

Chisango argued that Zimsec committed gross procedural irregularities because he was never engaged about the issue.

He said Zimsec should not have used a blanket approach in dealing with the issue and not considered the possibility of external students that only used the facility for the examination and immediately left after writing.

Chisango argued that a provision of the Zimsec Act which was applied in this situation was ultra vires provisions of the Constitution.

"Procedural fairness is concerned with giving people an opportunity to participate in the decisions that will affect them, and crucially a chance of influencing the outcome of those decisions.

"Such participation is a safeguard that not only signals respect for the dignity and worth of the participants, but also likely to improve the quality and rationality of administrative decision making," he added.

"The respondent was grossly irregular and further violated my rights as envisaged in the Constitution which guarantees my right to education." Zimsec is yet to respond to the application.