COMMENT: Zimsec must not be in a hurry to roll out exams

WHILE we received with great joy news that Government will conduct an assessment on the preparedness of learners before coming up with final dates for this year’s public examinations, we take serious note of the input from teachers.

As we reported, the reopening of schools for examination classes last week and non-exam classes on Monday, has created general anxiety as to when examinations will be written, especially considering that the term ends on December 17.

Although the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) has expressed readiness to roll out examinations in November, teachers’ unions are advocating for a postponement to next year.

Their argument makes sense: Learners are not well prepared as they lost learning time during the prolonged Covid-19 lockdown period, which chewed out the second term.

And as if that is not enough, virtual and radio lessons have not reached all students. The major concern of course, is that learners in rural areas have technology access issues and are not benefiting from the intervention.

Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president, Dr Takavafira Zhou said exams can only be written next year.

“We need three months of uninterrupted time of learning in order to cover the time lost through lockdown,” he said.

“If you put that it means there is no way that examinations can be written in 2021. The only possible way is to write exams around mid-January to February next year.”

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) president, Mr Richard Gundane, said exams could only be written when teachers had completed each syllabus.

The assessment by Government, will obviously be the most critical, but teachers must not be ignored completely. Zimsec must not be in a hurry to roll out exams.

The year has been tough for learners. It was difficult for them to concentrate.

The suggestion by teachers to push exams to around mid-January makes a lot of sense. Learners can use the final term to catch up or complete their syllabi altogether.

If exams are then pushed to early next year, the challenge for Zimsec will be the marking. Results must be released early so that the classes of 2021 move on to the next stages of their lives without interruption.

There is absolutely no pressure on the part of Zimsec to have exams in November as if everything else is normal under Covid-19.

The year 2021 has been tough. The country was ravaged by two waves of Covid-19. Government had no choice but to interrupt schooling to save lives.

Learning from home was generally a preserve of private schools which are well equipped for such disruptions. Also, private schools are in a rush for the writing of Cambridge exams, which the country has no control over.

Zimsec is a home-grown institution that replaced Cambridge. There is no need to pile the pressure on learners when our local Zimsec can instead make their lives easy.

We urge Government to work with teachers on coming up with a final date for exams and investigating the actual needs for learners to be able to be ready for those exams.

Quality is of essence and should never be compromised.