Chronicle Editor
Nqobile Tshili, [email protected]
THE Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has announced that the electronic enrolment platform for Form One pupils who wish to attend boarding schools next year will open on Friday.
This platform, known as the Electronic Ministry Application Platform (Emap, was first launched in 2016 to address issues associated with manual enrolment processes and to promote fairness and transparency in the enrolment system.
Before the implementation of Emap, some schools were brazenly exploiting the enrolment entry examinations by inviting large numbers of pupils when they only had limited vacancies available.
The Government realised this approach was not sustainable and therefore introduced Emap to ensure the enrolment processes are transparent and all pupils have equal opportunities to enrol in boarding schools.
Unfortunately, boarding schools have limited capacity and can only accommodate 25 000 pupils, while over 400 000 pupils sat for Grade Seven examinations this year.
In a circular, the Ministry has urged parents and guardians who intend to send their children to boarding school to access the Emap platform as soon as it goes live on Friday. The process will run until the end of the year.
“Parents/guardians who wish to send their children to boarding schools are advised to start applying through the platform http://www.emap.co.zw with effect from 1st November up to 31 December 2024,” read the circular.
Accordingly, one can apply to five schools and when offered a place at one school, you are considered for a place at any other school unless the offer is declined.
“Successful applicants will be notified through short message service (SMS) by the respective school heads,” said the Ministry.
“Parents/guardians are, however, advised that there are limited boarding places and should, therefore, have alternative arrangements to avoid challenges if a boarding place is not secured.
“Once you apply to a school, your application can show any one of the following statuses: Pending — application still under consideration, accepted — you have been offered a place.”
The Ministry said as soon as a school accepts a pupil’s application, the status at any other outstanding school will be changed to “processed” automatically.
However, if a pupil’s application does not meet a school’s expectations, they will receive a rejection response. When the system opens, schools are expected to use Grade Seven results to confirm enrolment for their institutions. — @nqotshili
Online Reporter