Giving oral evidence to the Parliamentary Portfolio on Education recently, the Permanent Secretary for Education, Constance Chigwabha, said this had created financial gaps that threatened the ministry’s operations.
“After government failed to fund the Grade 7 exams on time for the past three or so years, my ministry was asked to transfer some funds meant for O-levels tow the primary level tests. Under the arrangement, government was supposed to reimburse the transferred funds in batches. ZIMSEC is a commercial entity and if government fails to settle the debt then the national examining institution would struggle to maintain its viability,” said Chigwabha.
“I am deeply concerned about Zimsec’s financial position and hope that Treasury will honour its commitment to fund the Grade 7 exams,” said Minister David Coltart.
Government owes Zimsec $1.5 million which the examining council diverted to towards the Grade 7 exams last year, and further $2 million for the 2011 exams. As a result of failure by government to honour its arrangement with Zimsec 60% of 2012 Grade 7 markers have not been paid their allowances, while 50% of those who marked O-level examinations and 40% of the A-level markers are also yet to be paid.
“Government funding of public examinations never comes on time resulting in serious inconveniences regarding conducting of the examinations. As we speak government has not yet announced the 2013 ‘O’ level exam fees – leaving the ministry operating without a revenue base,” Chigwabha told the committee.
The ministry was allocated $48,8 million in the 2013 budget but, he said, “the funds come in batches that are hardly enough to meet the ministry’s running costs”. The President of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, Raymond Majongwe, accused government of not being serious about improving education standards. “It is clear that they don’t consider Grade Seven exams as a vital stage in the learning process.”
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