Zimsec faces Parly grilling

THE Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Primary and Secondary Education will today sit to receive oral evidence from the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) on running public examinations during the COVID-19 lockdown.

This follows President Emmerson Mngangagwa’s announcement on Saturday that examination classes would be allowed to commence.

Teachers’ unions have demanded that the June examinations be held under conditions that would not compromise the health of both candidates and invigilators.

Among other demands, the unions want examination rooms to be fumigated before and after every examination session at government or Zimsec cost and that all candidates and invigilators be provided with personal protective equipment by the government at zero cost during the duration of the examinations.

The educators also suggested that there should be a health inspector at each centre to ensure the right procedures are adhered to, including the use of sanitisers at gates to the schools as well as into the examination rooms.

“All those involved in the administration of examinations must be paid a meaningful COVID-19 risk allowance by Zimsec, given the risk they take in running these examinations. All centres administering examinations must have running water or copious amounts of water to enable the necessary hygienic conditions to prevail,” Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said.

However, most schools in both urban and rural areas have no running water, a key requirement in the containment of the virulent disease.