Online Reporter
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Reporter
THE Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Torerayi Moyo, has praised the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council’s (Zimsec) for an irregularity free Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations.
The Minister refuted claims by a section of the private media that certain schools received wrongly labelled question papers, fewer copies than the number of candidates and that some exam packages were unsealed saying they never received such reports.
He described the claims of irregularities as frivolous and mischievous, adding that since 2023 there has not been any examination leakages.
“I need to categorically state that since 2023, we have never had leakages of examinations. It’s the standard that must be adhered to. There is no reason for investigating because our security apparatus has dismissed the frivolous claims,” said Minister Moyo.
Minister Moyo said Zimsec always upholds the integrity of conducting examinations.
“The main tenets of examinations are transparency, accountability and responsibility,” said Minister Moyo.
The Minister, however, said his Ministry recognises the need for long-term structural reform and engagements with education experts, civil society and international partners to explore best practices in examination management, digital security and institutional accountability were already taking place and deliberations towards establishing a multi-stakeholder oversight committee that includes educators, parents and student representatives have since commenced.
Following the reports of alleged irregularities, Zimsec issued a public statement saying the examinations were proceeding as scheduled, with their integrity fully intact as strict multi-layered security protocols, from paper setting to distribution, have been followed and proven effective while any minor administrative or logistical issues were being handled under standard operating procedures.
In its statement, Zimsec said any form of malpractice is treated with utmost seriousness and anyone caught attempting to compromise the process will face legal and administrative consequences.
In 2022, Zimsec nullified results for hundreds of candidates after O-level papers were leaked online.
During the same year a headmaster and an English teacher at Sipepa High School in Tsholotsho District, Matabeleland North Province, were each sentenced to three years in prison for leaking an O-level English (paper 1) to candidates at the school.
Brian Mazendami who was the deputy headmaster and the teacher, Makosini Mondela of Sipepa Line in Tsholotsho were convicted on their own pleas of guilty to criminal abuse of duty as a public officer and contravening Section 35(a) and (b) of the Zimsec Act by a then Tsholotsho resident magistrate, Mr Victor Mpofu.
The two, were, however, spared the agony of jail life after the magistrate conditionally suspended 18 months of the sentence on condition that they do not within that period commit a similar offence.
The remaining 18 months were further suspended on condition that Mazendami and Mondela each perform 630 hours of community service.
During the same year again, a headmaster at Thokozani Secondary School in Insiza District in Matabeleland South, Gainmore Muzezewa allegedly wrote an Ordinary level English examination (Paper 1 and 2) for a candidate.
His deputy, Howard Zvipore, who was in charge of the entire examination process in his capacity as a cluster manager, was allegedly fully aware of the incident. The duo was also arraigned before the courts after their criminal activity was busted by alert security details.
