Exam deadline final: Coltart

The Herald
By Felex Share
30 September 2009

THERE is no reprieve for thousands of secondary school students who failed to beat the registration deadline for Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations, with the Government saying it is too late to do anything about their plight.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart yesterday said any changes now would disrupt the smooth running of the public examinations, even though he admitted that less than half of the prospective candidates had registered.

Minister Coltart said they were sticking to their deadline which lapsed on September 25 because the exams had already been delayed enough by an earlier week-long extension on registration.

“It’s unfortunate that there is little we can do to assist those affected. We have to sign contracts with printing houses for the printing of the question papers, which we did on Monday. It is impossible for us to extend the deadline because printing companies have to know the number of question papers needed and they have a timeframe to do this for security reasons.

“Inconveniencing them means the integrity of the whole process will be compromised,” he said.

Minister Coltart said allowing the students to write without paying was not feasible because the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council needed the money urgently for the processing of the relevant materials.

“Running the examinations is an expensive process. Printing question papers only needs more than US$700 000.

“The papers have to be distributed to various centres and, above all, markers need to be paid,” he explained.

Minister Coltart said although he sympathised with those affected, they had no choice but to wait for next year’s June exams, when the Government might be in a better position to commit more resources to the education sector.

“I am deeply concerned because children have been denied the chance to sit for their final examinations after working hard for probably four or five years.

“It is an unacceptable situation but the Government has no resources to subsidise the fees,” he said.

Minister Coltart said while he could not give accurate figures at the moment, estimates were that slightly over 50 percent of prospective candidates had failed to register.

Teachers’ unions have put the figure much higher at around 70 percent.

The hardest hit are students in rural areas with many parents indicating that they could not afford to fork out US$10 and US$20 per “O” and “A” Level paper respectively.

It is understood that this year some of the students who did register cut down on the number of subjects they would be sitting.

“You will find that students doing eight subjects have managed to pay for only three,” said a Harare secondary school head.

Students require a minimum of five “O” Level passes to proceed to “A” Level or to qualify for an apprenticeship or gain admission to a teachers’ college or school of nur- sing.

Parents interviewed yesterday saw the development as a sign that policymakers were insensitive to the plight of their children.

“Government says it does not have money for our salaries so that means we also do not have cash to pay for the exam fees.

“They should just let the kids write without paying,” said Mr Desmond Kachepa of Harare.

Mr Tariro Chitsungire said such a crisis needed a bold decision from Government and Zimsec because thousands of children now faced a bleak future.

“This is a national issue which needs a united approach from all concerned.

“It’s better for them to allow them to write and then they withhold their results until they are paid up,” said a woman who only identified herself as Mai Dhehwa.

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