Chaos as school heads grapple with computers

Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
THERE was chaos at the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) Bulawayo offices yesterday as primary school heads and teachers from Matabeleland region struggled to operate computers after the examination body ordered schools to electronically register pupils for Grade Seven examinations.
When Chronicle visited the offices yesterday morning, scores of primary school teachers were being taught how to electronically register their Grade Seven candidates.

The teachers, who seemed to be struggling to cope, are racing against the registration deadline, which is on Friday.
The examination body reportedly told schools to buy or borrow laptops last week as registration had ceased to be done manually.

The school officials were required to bring laptops to the Zimsec offices before the registration software is installed and allow them to proceed with registration.

The teachers complained that they were not ready for the new programme as most of them were not computer literate and did not have the required resources.

“We were told that we were now required to register our Grade Seven candidates electronically but what surprises us is that we do not have the resources to do so. I am from Nkayi and we are sharing one laptop with three other schools,” said one teacher.

“I was assigned to come and register Grade Seven pupils at our school but I do not even know how to operate a computer. I had to be assisted by some of the teachers.”

The teacher said the new development was welcome but feared that there would be a lot of mishaps due to lack of knowledge on the part of education officials.

She also complained that the training sessions were being conducted under harsh conditions.
“We appreciate that Zimsec is trying to reduce paperwork by introducing electronic registration but it should be done in a proper manner. This confusion will definitely create problems and result in some pupils failing to register.

“Even Zimsec itself was not ready because they do not even have a proper venue for the training programme. I have been coming here since Friday and spending the whole day standing while we learnt how to use the software. It is not fair,” she said.

Another teacher from Victoria Falls said the programme would only be effective if teachers were taught how to use computers.
“I understand that if the software is installed we can manage to register from our respective schools but we cannot do that as long as we cannot operate computers. We still have to travel all the way to Bulawayo to register, which defeats the whole purpose.

“I hope that Zimsec and our parent ministry will make efforts to do this in a more organised manner. There is no electricity at most of our schools so we will still have to travel to Bulawayo,” he said.

Zimsec director Esau Nhandara was not available for comment yesterday.
Last year, Zimsec introduced electronic registration for A-Level candidates in a bid to reduce paper work.

Before, candidates had to manually fill in their details on registration forms, making the registration process cumbersome.
This means most schools with the right facilities, such as computers and electricity would be eligible to carry out electronic registration for their candidates.