The Chronicle
Chronicle Reporter
13 June 2009
THE Government has finally given in to pressure from both parents and school authorities to allow pupils that failed last year’s Ordinary Level examinations to continue with Lower Sixth lessons while they write supplementary examinations.
In an interview yesterday, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart said the pupils that failed the examinations will be allowed to continue with their Lower Sixth lessons while they write supplementary examinations.
Minister Coltart who had earlier this week said that the Government had not changed its position to have the pupils who failed ejected from classes, said the new position was that the pupils should attain five O-level subjects before sitting for the A-level examinations.
“They can continue with their Lower Sixth classes and write supplementary examinations but they will not be allowed to sit for their A-Level examinations until they attain five O-level passes,†said Minister Coltart.
In an earlier interview, the Bulawayo Provincial Education Director, Mr Dan Moyo, had said pupils who failed the 2008 examinations would be allowed to supplement.
Mr Moyo said pupils who failed Maths and English but had proceeded to Lower Sixth basing on the 2008 August results, would be given a chance to re-sit for the subjects in July.
“We encouraged school headmasters to be fair on pupils and also take into consideration the high fees that were paid by parents under the harsh economic environment. Therefore, we have decided to give the Lower Sixth Forms who failed some essential subjects to register for the June ZIMSEC examinations,†he said.
Mr Moyo revealed that the deadline for the June examinations closed yesterday but failing O Level pupils had been encouraged to register starting Monday 8 June 2009.
“Hopefully, they pass the June examinations because if they fail, we might consider other means of correcting the situation. The reason we want O-level passes in both Mathematics and English is that they gain entry to tertiary colleges,†he explained.
Mr Moyo said the Government took a soft stance on O-levels because ZIMSEC delayed releasing the 2008 final examination results, which only came out last week.
ZIMSEC delayed releasing results due to a 2008 teachers’ strike that dragged for a year. Further, the examinations body had no funds to pay examination markers on time.
However, schools in Bulawayo have recorded satisfactory results for both O-and A-level results for the November/December 2008 examinations.
Although schools this week said they had not yet finalised their assessment, early indications show that the pass-rate was generally good considering the problems that were encountered in the education sector last year.
Turning to the acute shortage of teachers, Mr Moyo said the Government should review salaries to as much as US$500 to persuade teachers to rejoin the public service.
He said Bulawayo still required 675 secondary school teachers.