Chronicle
Chronicle reporter
29th of September 2009
The Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart, will this week hold a crisis meeting with the Zimbabwe schools examination Council (Zimsec), to find ways of helping pupils who fail to register for this year’s November examinations.
The meeting comes in the wake of pleas for Zimsec to extend the examinations registration deadline, which lapsed on Friday with reports that about 70% of pupils failed to raise registration fees.
In a telephone interview yesterday Minister Coltart said the meeting with the examinations body would seek to help those who are facing financial constraints and were unable to pay for five subjects at ordinary level and three at advanced level.
He however, could not assure on chances of having the deadline extended, saying postponing the deadline indefinitely would have negative effects on the running of examinations.
The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture pegged the examination fees at US $10 for O-level and US $20 for A-level subjects.
This means parents or guardians would need to raise US$ 80 for a child sitting for eight subjects at A-level while an A-level candidate would require US $ 60 for three subjects.
Minister Coltart defended the examination fees as reasonable compared to those charged by other examination bodies worldwide.
For example, he said, Cambridge examinations body was charging US $ 40 per A-level subject while the costs of US $ 10 per O-level subject locally.
“I’m very concerned about the situation in schools. We understand that parents don’t have money but we also have to appreciate the cost of running examinations is high. We are charging a quarter of what Cambridge charges, which shows that government has already subsidised examination fees,” he said.
“I am in a dilemma because on one side I sympathise with parents while I also have to look at the cost of education. I believe extending the deadline is difficult because Zimsec has to know the number of candidates so that they start printing examination papers on time.”
Minister Coltart revealed that he was seeking the help of donors both locally and internationally to fund the running of examinations.
Zimsec spokesman Mr Ezekiel Pasipamire said the deadline lapsed on Friday and schools had started submitting entries to the examinations Council.
He could not ascertain the number of O and A-level candidates to sit for the final examinations since the entries were still trickling in.
Parents have appealed to Zimsec to devise an instalment payment system to enable pupils to sit for examinations before paying the full amount. They also called for improvement of standards in Zimsec to justify the payment of the examination fees.
Meanwhile, our Harare bureau reports that thousands of candidates who wrote ordinary and advanced level examinations from as far back as 2007 are yet to get their certificates, compromising the chances of furthering their studies or securing scholarships and employment.