adminMoleen Machingura Herald Reporter
Government will pursue continuous assessment of citizens’ potential instead of solely relying on formal examinations, a Cabinet minister has said. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Lazarus Dokora yesterday said formal examinations in schools did not reveal children’s full potential.
He made the remarks at the National Defence College in Harare in a paper titled “Inculcating national identity and national pride through education”.
“For years, our assessment of learners has always been through formal examinations at Grade 7, ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels,” Minister Dokora said.
“We have come to accept that this type of assessment of learners does not reveal the learners’ potential. Because of this realisation, my ministry has adopted continuous assessment as a strategy for talent identification and nurturing.”
Minister Dokora said learners would be assessed from infant to secondary education to identify and assess their strengths.
Minister Dokora said the policy of answering Shona or Ndebele exam questions in English had been banned.
“In fact, the practice tended to undermine the status of indigenous languages. This is why the practice has since been discontinued,” he said.
Online Reporter