said the fees set by the government for this year’s O and A-Level subjects were too low for the examination regulatory body to operate efficiently. The government has pegged examination fees for an O and A-Level subject at $500 and $1200 respectively.
The government has on numerous occasions reportedly turned down proposals by ZIMSEC to increase fees. But the examination’s regulatory body says its failure to administer the examinations properly have been caused by funding constraints.
Raymond Majongwe, the PTUZ secretary general told CajNews: “We are headed for crises in so far as the handling of examinations is concerned. The low examination fees are disheartening. They do not meet up with the high inflation rate.
“The amount being charged being charged is only for political gain and people who live in the rural areas are already celebrating the low examination fees. What is worsening the situation is that the ministry of education has no budget to run examinations and the money being charged is insufficient to pay the examination markers.”
Education Minister, Aeneas Chigwedere defended the low examination fees. “All students should be able to write their final examinations. No student should be denied the opportunity to write because of lack of money.”
ZIMSEC has been unable to get assistance from government since the Zanu PF administration implemented a populist decision of localising O-level and A-level exams in 1998.
The government argued the move would ensure that the syllabi remained relevant to Zimbabwe ‘s socio-economic needs University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom used to run the examinations.
But frequent ‘boobs’ by the examining body like leakages of papers, mix-ups, delays in the release of results has raised fears that the country’s education standards could be compromised.
At the same time, markers have constantly downed tools citing low allowances from ZIMSEC. This has impacted on thousands of students who have failed to enroll for higher level education due to lack of exam results.
There have been calls for the government to overhaul the whole body saying they were concerned with “deterioration of standards, flagrant breach of security and confidentiality of examination papers and delays in the issuance of certificates at ZIMSEC-CAJ News.
Post published in: News