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Minister Dokora

Tafara Shumba Correspondent
Mistakes are common but when they become daily bread, something is terribly wrong. The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (zimsec) has had a catalogue of howlers in the administration of school examinations that has threatened to erode confidence in the country’s education system. The leakage of English and Mathematics examination papers has exposed the ineptitude of those mandated to administer the national examination system.

The honourable thing for those who are accountable for these clangers is to step down lest the national examination system is compromised.
The late former Minister of Education, Cde Edmund Garwe resigned after his daughter was found in possession of examination papers she had accessed at home. This is the way to go for zimsec bosses.

The country cannot afford to have endless exam leaks while perpetrators are treated with kid gloves.
It is now rare to sit for the national examinations without some slip-ups of this nature.

Apart from the leakage of the Maths and English exams, there was also bungling in the Grade 7 Maths exam paper.
One of the multiple-choice questions failed to provide the correct answer.
One wonders how this mistake escaped detection through all the quality assurance processes.

The Grade 7 Ndebele examination paper also caused a furore after some slang and inappropriate words were used.
The Ndebele speakers misconstrued such a bungle as a deliberate attempt to exterminate their language.
Though not true, these unnecessary slip-ups invite such misconstruction.

It reflects badly on the council and this leaves room for speculation.
It is either there is a hidden agenda to discredit the examination system or the leadership at zimsec is just a bunch of incompetent people which gives a perfunctory performance to their work.

Either way, it is high time heads must roll at zimsec.
All these boobs traumatise the pupil and the council’s board chairman, Professor Levy Nyagura admitted this.
Imagine the pupils being ordered to retake the two exam papers. These pupils swotted for the exams and heaved a sigh of relief when they finished writing these two crucial subjects. Ordinarily, one throws away books after completing an exam, more so when a pass is anticipated.

Some pupils had already predicted some distinctions in these subjects, only to be told that they will re-sit for the same papers. Who knows, the distinctions that were to be produced in the first sitting could be turned into U’s.

In addition to the distress that is loaded on pupils, the process of retaking an exam also drains the national fiscus.
The exam papers have to be printed and distributed to the exam centres across the country.

All these processes chew up a fortune, a situation that could have been avoided if due diligence was exercised by the council.
According to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Dr Lazarus Dokora, the re-running of the exams will require over $1 million.

With the frequency of these mistakes, students and parents have lost confidence in zimsec.
Pupils go for an exam with uncertainties, for they are not sure what tomorrow holds for them. They are not sure if the exam they are writing has not been leaked.
These uncertainties are a source of deep anxiety among the students and their parents.

The media reports of these exam leaks transcend our borders. The erosion of credibility of the national examination system and the education system in general can be of international magnitude.

There is a danger that our high school graduates might end up denied entry into foreign universities, all because of a few individuals who sleep on duty.
The examination leaks have left Government with an egg on the face, more so after it banned schools from offering Cambridge exams to the exclusion of zimsec.

Those who have been vociferous in criticising Government on this policy now have ammunition to defend their position.
Last year, Geography paper 2 and Integrated Science leaked in Midlands again.

In 2012, 13 ordinary level exams had to be reset after a headmaster lost them while travelling from Bulawayo using public transport.
It does not need a clever person to curb such problems.
zimsec must simply prohibit school authorities from travelling with such important papers in public transport.

Most schools now have at least a school vehicle. Allowing school heads to travel with exam papers in public transport only serves to show the level of importance that the council attach to the examinations.

In Bikita, two ordinary level pupils had to travel to Masvingo, 100km away, to write a Biology Paper 2 exam after zimsec failed to deliver question papers to the centres. These pupils had to write at night.

zimsec must tighten up exam security. It should engage the service of the police who must safeguard the exams at exam centres from the day they are distributed.
This is the only measure that can plug the unabated yearly leakages of examination.
The exams must be handled the same way that national elections are handled.

There is high security involved in the handling of election material. If such safety measures are employed on elections, why not with the delicate issue of exams, which is a matter of life?

The leakages of exams papers should be a wake up call for Dr Dokora. It is a symptom of an underlying problem that he must address.
After banning the incentives for teachers, the later are now trying to cover the void left by the banned incentives by any means.
It is a reflection of how pervasive corruption has become.

Every sector has devised its own form of corruption. Exam papers have become a cash cow for teachers. Imagine selling a paper for $40. In Mutoko, a headmaster and a senior teacher are currently behind bars for leaking exams after being promised a goat.
These are just reported cases of exam leakages that could be a tip of the iceberg.

A lot is happening unreported and the credibility and integrity of our highly regarded education system is at stake.