News / National
Students resist Hexco exam rewrite
20 Jun 2019 at 08:02hrs | Views
Scores of disgruntled former Kwekwe Polytechnic students yesterday refused to resit for an examination in which some of the candidates were caught cheating, leading to the nullification of the results of all the candidates who sat for that paper in March this year.
The students argued they could not be punished for the crimes of their colleagues.
The Higher Education Examination Council (Hexco) board withheld the results of all the candidates who sat for the national certificate in electronics and engineering science papers during the March/April 2019 examination session and directed the affected students to resit for the paper.
This did not go down well with the affected students who blamed the examination board for being unfair.
Rowdy candidates could be seen milling outside the college's new mechanical workshop while some took to song and dance to express their displeasure.
Candidates insisted on not writing the examination since they were not caught cheating, regardless of the fact that they had travelled long distances, heeding the call to come and sit for the examinations.
One affected electrical power engineering candidate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "The people who cheated were caught and were disqualified. No one else in the exam was caught whether they were other people who were also cheating we don't know.
"The reason why we should rewrite we don't know. We have come from far away places and we were not given food or accommodation by the college."
Kwekwe Polytechnic principal Evans Musara referred questions to the secretary in the Higher and Tertiary Education ministry Fanuel Tagwira, who is also the Hexco board chairperson.
"I don't speak on behalf of Hexco. You can call the Hexco chairperson for comment," Musara said.
Tagwira's number was unreachable by the time of going to print.
Meanwhile, Kwekwe Polytechnic scooped an award for being the best tertiary institution in the Midlands province at a Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce business awards ceremony held in Gweru recently.
The students argued they could not be punished for the crimes of their colleagues.
The Higher Education Examination Council (Hexco) board withheld the results of all the candidates who sat for the national certificate in electronics and engineering science papers during the March/April 2019 examination session and directed the affected students to resit for the paper.
This did not go down well with the affected students who blamed the examination board for being unfair.
Rowdy candidates could be seen milling outside the college's new mechanical workshop while some took to song and dance to express their displeasure.
Candidates insisted on not writing the examination since they were not caught cheating, regardless of the fact that they had travelled long distances, heeding the call to come and sit for the examinations.
One affected electrical power engineering candidate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "The people who cheated were caught and were disqualified. No one else in the exam was caught whether they were other people who were also cheating we don't know.
"The reason why we should rewrite we don't know. We have come from far away places and we were not given food or accommodation by the college."
Kwekwe Polytechnic principal Evans Musara referred questions to the secretary in the Higher and Tertiary Education ministry Fanuel Tagwira, who is also the Hexco board chairperson.
"I don't speak on behalf of Hexco. You can call the Hexco chairperson for comment," Musara said.
Tagwira's number was unreachable by the time of going to print.
Meanwhile, Kwekwe Polytechnic scooped an award for being the best tertiary institution in the Midlands province at a Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce business awards ceremony held in Gweru recently.
Source - newsday
