News / National
Zimsec in another exam scandal
15 Oct 2014 at 10:09hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) has been sucked into yet another examination scandal after one of the questions in the Grade 7 mathematics multiple choice questions failed to provide the correct answer.
This comes a year after last year's Ndebele examination caused a furore, with some criticising Zimsec of using slang in examining pupils.
Zimsec's latest scandal reportedly caused confusion during last Tuesday's mathematics examination, as some learners called invigilators telling them there was no correct option in the listed answers for question number 39.
The question read: "A deposit of $200 was paid for an article marked $10 000. If the balance was to be paid in 20 months what was the monthly instalment?"
The answers were given as $500, $400, $50 and $10 despite the correct answer being $490.
"We did not know how to respond to the queries by the learners at the end even those who had not realised the anomaly finally discovered it as some of the pupils shouted out that there was no answer," a teacher who requested anonymity said.
"In such cases a free mark is usually awarded for all the pupils who sat for the examination," the teacher said.
Zimsec has in the past made several mistakes in its examinations, compromising the country's education system.
No comment could be obtained from Zimsec at the time of going to print.
This comes a year after last year's Ndebele examination caused a furore, with some criticising Zimsec of using slang in examining pupils.
Zimsec's latest scandal reportedly caused confusion during last Tuesday's mathematics examination, as some learners called invigilators telling them there was no correct option in the listed answers for question number 39.
The question read: "A deposit of $200 was paid for an article marked $10 000. If the balance was to be paid in 20 months what was the monthly instalment?"
The answers were given as $500, $400, $50 and $10 despite the correct answer being $490.
"We did not know how to respond to the queries by the learners at the end even those who had not realised the anomaly finally discovered it as some of the pupils shouted out that there was no answer," a teacher who requested anonymity said.
"In such cases a free mark is usually awarded for all the pupils who sat for the examination," the teacher said.
Zimsec has in the past made several mistakes in its examinations, compromising the country's education system.
No comment could be obtained from Zimsec at the time of going to print.
Source - Southern Eye
