In past years, the number of candidates registering had gone down as the education system had deteriorated due to economic and funding problems. Zimsec lost its credibility as papers were routinely leaked, with most pupils resorting to writing Cambridge international examinations, recognised worldwide.
According to the Zimsec Public Relations Unit, 50,661 pupils registered for the Ordinary Level for the June 2011 examinations while 254,945 sat in November of the same year.
However, the figures jumped to 65,306 candidates in June and 286,330 in November last year.
For the Advanced Level examinations, 3,217 pupils registered in June 2011 and 25,841 in November , while the June figure rose to 4,296 the following year and 37,525 sat in November 2012.
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, David Coltart, told The Zimbabwean that Zimsec was slowly gaining credibility and more people could now afford the examination fees.
“We had more candidates this year as compared to the previous years. I think this has more to do with the economic stability as more pupils can now afford the registration fees. Parents are also beginning to gain confidence in the council because in the previous years the examination standards had gone down, pushing pupils to register with Cambridge,” he said.
Last year Zimsec recorded incidents that compromised the integrity of the board.
“An acting school head in Matebeleland lost examination papers whilst transporting them to a school and we had to reprint the papers. A teacher was also caught writing on behalf of a student. These are some of the incidents that compromise our integrity,” said Coltart.
ZIMSEC has also been accused of mixing up candidates’ results, while the board failed to attract competent markers due to poor allowances.
Coltart said his ministry was working with a shoestring budget which created room for loopholes within the board.
“Some examination councils like Cambridge transport their examination papers using DHL or FEDEX but we cannot afford that. We don’t even have sufficient vehicles to ferry the papers thus school heads are obliged to collect the papers from various centres. We are, however, working hard to close those gaps,” said Coltart.
The examination fee for Zimsec is $12 per subject whilst Cambridge charges $40 for O-level candidates.
Zimbabwe’s education system was once among the best in Africa. Even though the grading is still considered high, schools in Zimbabwe are dogged by numerous problems, among them big student-teacher ratios, lack of stationery and textbooks as well as poor quality teachers, after thousands fled the country in the last decade in search of better economic fortunes.
Post published in: News