Form One entrance tests banned

Bulawayo Bureau
Schools have been ordered to cancel entrance tests for 2017 Form One pupils and wait for Grade Seven public examination results to enrol.

The directive comes at a time when secondary schools in most parts of the country had started conducting Form One entrance tests in preparation for next year.

Secretary for Primary and Secondary Education Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango yesterday said it was illegal for schools to conduct entrance tests.

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“It’s Government policy that schools should go by the Grade Seven public examination results for them to offer Form One places. Selection should be done on the basis of these results, not the entrance tests that they’re conducting at their schools.

“All the schools that have conducted or are planning to conduct entrance tests are going against Government policy. They must cancel the entrance tests and wait for the Grade Seven results. We’ll follow up through our structures and make sure that our provincial education directors monitor their schools,” said Dr Utete-Masango.

On Sunday, Minda High School in Maphisa, Matabeleland South, invited pupils for an entrance test on August 27.

The pupils are expected to produce Grade Six end of year results, Grade Seven mid-year results and certified copies of birth certificates.

The tests will be conducted at its premises in Maphisa, at St Patricks Primary School in Makokoba and at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church in Gwanda.