Zimsec registrations decline

THE number of pupils who registered to sit for public examinations fell sharply this year, declining to nearly half of last year’s numbers on account of the Covid-19.

About 643 000 pupils are set to sit for their final exams this year beginning with Advanced Level classes, who are sitting for their first exam tomorrow.

The rest of classes will begin sitting on December 1. Around 1,2 million pupils registered for public exams last year. This comes as the Government and teacher unions are set to convene a meeting tomorrow to finalise preparations for the examinations and also discuss how to avert possible disruptions to the exercise.

This year’s public examinations will be the first to incorporate the Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA), an exercise that involves the progressive assessment of a pupil’s academic development throughout the course of study.

The deadline for submission of CALA work is Tuesday. Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council board chairperson Professor Eddie Mwenje said Government had ensured that all prospective candidates were registered.

The Government has supported over 14 000 pupils with exam fees this year.

“We are ready for the examinations. Question papers have been dispatched and are being kept at safe places,” he said.

“Invigilators and markers have been trained on how to grade CALA and theory.

“Remember we did not have June examinations, so we wanted to ensure that everyone who needs to register and sit for examinations is afforded the opportunity.

“However, there is a decline in the number of candidates this year and this has been mostly attributed to the Covid-19.”

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, communications and advocacy director, Mr Taungana Ndoro, said preparations were on course.“Everything is on course; we have instructed moderators to work overtime on the CALA to ensure that we meet the deadline,” he said.

“Remember this is the first time we are implementing CALA, so there are bound to be some hiccups here and there but we are positive we will meet the deadline.

“We have also been meeting with teachers concerning a number of issues including examinations. We are hoping to meet them again this week and with the US dollar (bonus) incentives we are hoping they will come to the table.”

About 338 000 pupils will sit for Grade Seven exams, while around 255 000 will be taking the Ordinary Level tests and 50 000 will sit for Advanced Level examinations.

National Association of School Heads president, Mr Arthur Maphosa, said preparations for the examinations are progressing well.

“Most schools have received question papers and it is all systems go,” he said.

“We are still working on CALA and we have external moderators assessing the activities which means all internal assessments are complete. So we are hopeful that we will meet the deadline.

“Some students had challenges with registering, however, the Government managed to pay for such.”