Scrap irrelevant 'O' Level exams

Educationist Dr Caiphus Nziramasanga has called for total scrapping of Grade 7 and Ordinary Level examinations claiming they have become irrelevant to modern education and costly to Government.

He suggested the continuation of O-Level exams as internal preparatory tests for Advanced Level examinations which will then be regarded as final and definitive.

He said  examination-driven curriculum puts emphasis on passing the exam rather than imparting knowledge to students.

Nziramasanga suggested that the two exams be replaced with a continuous assessment programme which is administered at school level.

Nziramasanga: "Emphasis should be put on the implementation of the new curriculum.

"There are a lot of recommendations I feel were left out in the development of the new curriculum. For example, we had recommended that Grade 7 examinations be removed while O Level examinations would be made internal.

"They have become irrelevant and are being costly to Government so they should go. What we are saying is that we need a continuous and inclusive learning without stops and breaks and we highlighted that in the report.

"Form 4 exams should prepare students for A Level exams and they should never be the stumbling block for students to complete their secondary education which spans to Form 6."

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Dr Takawira Zhou disagreed the scrapping of the examinations.

"We are moving too fast in coming up with these policies. We are haphazard in our consultations and our researches," he said.

"Anyone who says Grade 7 and Form 4 exams should go is not serious because everyone, teachers and students, want them. If you go to the schools they tell you they even want ZJC back.

"What is wrong is not the examinations themselves but the manner in which they are being done. Currently, we are preparing students to answer the exam. We should move away from that and create a curriculum which educates while we keep the exams."