Over 58 schools miss JC Exam registration deadline
SITEKI – At least 58 high schools missed the registration deadline for the Junior Certificate (JC) Examination.
This affects 1 500 pupils. According to Examinations Council of Eswatini (ECESWA) Director of Examina tions andAdministration Gift Maziya, about 1 per cent of the total number of schools in the /ubombo Region missed the deadline. This is about 22 schools.
,n the Manzini and Hhohho regions, about 15 schools missed the deadline in each region. The Shiselweni Re gion had on only six schools missing the registration deadline, which was the lowest number per region.
Maziya said his office would review the reports and challenges faced by the affected schools to enable ECES WA to assist them.
Breakdown
The director pointed out that due to a breakdown in communication between his office and head teachers, the schools missed the registration deadline.
He mentioned that some of the challenges shared by schools’ admin istrators was that some head teachers were using their personal emails to communicate with his offices, while some had changed schools or were retired.
Maziya encouraged schools to cre ate and host school’s official emails, that would be used for administrative communication by schools’ secretar ies and head teachers in information sharing with his office.
³We will compile a report of the challenges faced by the head teach ers and schools and then assist them so that they can meet the deadline for registration in the near future,´ he said.
According to ECESWA Communi cations Officer Hlengiwe Ndlovu, the penalty for missing the registration deadline for the Eswatini Primary Certificate (EPC) is E200 and it is to be paid by May 1 , 202 . )or miss ing the registration for the Eswatini General Certificate for Secondary Education (EGCSE) examination, the penalty is E 00 and it is to be paid by May 1, 202 .
Ndlovu elaborated that ECESWA was in the process of effecting reg istration corrections with the fully registered centres.
She said ECESWA acknowledged that certain unforeseen circumstances might warrant the addition of can didates that were not on the initial registration list.
³Timely registration enables ECES WA to carefully plan for the examina tions. Penalties are paid by candidates that do not make their examination fees payment within the set dead lines,´ she said.
Head teachers randomly raised concerns that they were new in their respective schools, hence the break down in communication with the office of ECESWA on the basis that the former head teachers were using personal emails when relaying reports and information during their tenure.
Challenges
The head teachers also indicated that some of the schools had no offi cial administration emails, hence they were facing challenges in that regard.
³After assuming our new positions at the schools, , am made to believe that some of the head teachers also faced the same problem of effectively communicating with the ECESWA office as the former head teachers were using their personal emails. We have since ensured that we host offi cial schools’ emails as a tool of com municating issues of the schools with the ministry and other stakeholders,´ said a head teacher, who requested to speak anonymously.
Another head teacher who asked that his identity be concealed, stated that he was informed by his colleague from another school that pupils from his school missed the deadline after a communication breakdown with the office of ECESWA.
³Exchanging information with the ECESWA office has been a huge challenge. , also found my school without an official communication tool, like an email, as the former head teacher was using his personal email. We urge the exams council to update their data with schools, so that such discrepancies are avoided in the future,´ said the head teacher.
Acting /ubombo Regional Educa tion Officer (REO) Thami Dlamini said head teachers were dealing di rectly with ECESWA.
He said head teachers registered pupils with ECESWA and reported any challenges to the examinations council.
His counterpart in the Shiselweni Region, Siboniso Gumbi, said high schools in the region met the deadline.
³, got no reports of schools missing the registration deadline,´ he said. However, Hhohho REO Dr Nathi Nkambule, said he was still collecting data of the schools that missed the registration deadline.
Manzini REO Sizwe .unene said he was yet to get a report from the office of ECESWA as head teachers dealt directly with the examinations council.
Engage
³, still have to engage ECESWA as head teachers directly deal with the exams council on issues of examina tions,´ he said.
The Swaziland National Associa tion of Teachers (SNAT) has indicated that the organisation had not been informed of the schools that missed the deadline for registration.
SNAT Secretary General (SG) /ot 9ilakati said the matter was out of his organisation’s Murisdiction, on the ba sis that it was handled by ECESWA.