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The continued leaking of Zimbabwe School Examinations Council question papers remains a cause for concern to both parents and students.
But we note that this year, the situation was not as alarming as in the previous years.
For the ongoing zimsec examinations, the board admitted that isolated cases of leakage were identified and the culprits reported to the police.
Indeed, some people appeared in the courts, especially in Chitungwiza this week, charged with possessing papers for the November examinations.
zimsec said other culprits were identified in Budiriro and Glen View 1 and were apprehended by the police. The events this year with regards to the leaking of exam papers show that zimsec is improving, albeit slowly, in the way it is handling its examinations.
But the nation still expects more from zimsec.
Obviously, the ideal situation is when there is zero reportage of exam leakages and we are disappointed that zimsec is still far from achieving that.
We expect zimsec to put its house in order and ensure that there is no incident of exam leakage in 2016. zimsec was established in 1994 through the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council Act following Government’s decision to localise examinations.
Prior to that, local examinations were administered by the University of Cambridge of the United Kingdom. It is now 21 years after zimsec was established and for the examination board to argue that it is still putting its systems in order is unacceptable.
We urge zimsec to learn from how examination boards in other countries are handling their papers.
The examination board must prioritise and invest more in security to safeguard its examinations if it is to remain credible.
Otherwise, what is the benefit of investing heavily in setting examinations that will be leaked anyway?
It is a futile exercise and we hope that zimsec has learnt its lessons from past experiences, especially in 2012 when it had its biggest leakage of 13 papers.
The cost was astronomical as the examinations board had to fork out more than $800 000 to come up with new papers, causing inconveniencies to candidates who had to re-take the tests.
Last year, pupils had to re-sit four examinations after similar leakage. It is our humble observation that zimsec has chosen to remain stuck in the past and shuns acquiring latest technologies in handling examinations. Before even acquiring the new technologies, the examination board must start by having a look at itself since some of the leakages might be emanating from within its poor systems.
It is a cause for concern that the leakages usually involve teachers, examiners, printers, proof readers or school administrators.
We wonder why it is taking long for zimsec to change its system when it is known that factors contributing to schools examinations leakage include use of public transport and lack of security from district examinations centres to schools.
Why should zimsec continue to use school heads who are not its employees to carry the examination papers to schools? Although exam leaks are not confined to Zimbabwe, there is no doubt that they are eroding the gains of educational reforms and the goals of Government to empower local pupils.
The leakage has grave consequences apart from posing a serious threat to the quality of education and discredit the country’s efforts to improve the education sector.
Online Reporter