adminFollowing the hiccup that forced the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council to reset some examination papers after the acting headmaster of Sijawugwe Secondary School in Siganda area of Bubi in Matabeleland North lost the papers two weeks ago, we thought the worst was over. But it looks like our examination system continues to be dogged by a myriad of problems caused mostly by the incompetence and unreasonable actions of some individuals at schools.
Two weeks ago the acting headmaster of Sijawugwe Secondary School Mr Panganai Zimunhu allegedly lost 11 Ordinary Level examination papers for five subjects namely English Language (Paper 1 and 2), Mathematics non-calculator version (Paper 1 and 2), Geography (Paper 1 and 2), Integrated Science (Paper 1, 2 and 3) and Ndebele (Paper 1 and 2). This cost Zimsec a total of $850 000 to replace the five subjects. The examinations body had used $996 000 to print examination papers for the 286 343 candidates registered to write Ordinary Level examinations this year.
When Zimsec moved in swiftly to print new examination papers, the nation thought the examinations were now going to proceed smoothly. But alas since Monday when the examinations began, it has been problem after problem leaving us to wonder whether we will ever get it right when it comes to our examinations. These examinations must be of the highest integrity and standard so that the graduates churned out by this system are of the highest quality. But the prevalence of the challenges is becoming cancerous.
On the very first day the examinations began an Accounts and Mathematics teacher from Bulawayo was caught after allegedly writing an examination on behalf of a candidate who had promised him $40 as payment. Edward Moyo (40) and the candidate Phephile Dlamini (29) have since been convicted of fraud and conspiracy respectively. The pair were ordered to do community service. Moyo and Dlamini were allegedly caught cheating at Methodist College in Makokoba during the English Paper 1 examination on Monday morning. Pupils at the college complained of laxity on the part of the school authorities. Surely it is the duty of the invigilators to check the identity particulars of the candidate and see if the person purporting to be the candidate is the one whose picture is on the identity particulars. That should be a simple check honestly. How the invigilators missed that and only noticed the anomaly during the examination boggles the mind. It begs the question how many other people are cheating out there and getting away with it at the expense of genuine candidates who toiled throughout the year to prepare for the examinations.
As if that was not enough a day later parents stormed the examination hall at St Peters Kubatana High School in Highfield in Harare protesting against the barring of their children from writing examinations over non payment of tuition fees. The pupils had paid their examination fees and the school authorities should have just let them write the examinations and then hold on to their results. Parents and guardians will be forced to look for the tuition fees because they and their children want to know how they performed in the examinations. Some are brilliant pupils who would have obviously passed and want to proceed to Advanced Level and so they have enough time between the time they finish the examinations and the results are out to look for the outstanding tuition fees. It’s only logical to hold on to the results than disrupt a child who spent the whole year preparing for the examinations.
A day later again candidates at Warren Park 1 High School in Harare wrote the withdrawn English Paper 1 examination that Mr Zimunhu lost instead of the new reset paper. Fortunately school authorities realised the error immediately after the candidates had finished writing the paper and ordered them to sit for another two hours to write the correct paper. We bet the performance of some candidates was affected by fatigue after four hours of writingan examination. Fine they were allowed some minutes between the examinations but for some that would not be enough rest. In Masvingo teachers invigilating examinations at Mucheke High School gave a pupil a wrong examination paper before the error was rectified.
We urge school authorities to please treat examinations seriously and avoid these unnecessary mistakes. After the examinations we might again be hearing stories of examiners who lost answer sheets in bars, buses or shebeens. Authorities must take stern action against those responsible for these emotionally and financially costly mistakes.
Online Reporter