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Leroy Dzenga Features Writer
Malvin Kureya (not his real name) wants a school with proven results for his daughter. Acting on the 2015 Ordinary Level top-performing schools list, he recently applied for a place at one of the schools ranked in the top 10 and within convenient proximity to his neighbourhood.

“Her application was accepted and we accompanied her for the preliminary examinations on June 20 this year. A $25 fee accompanied the first application,” said Kureya.

He estimates that well over a thousand prospective students turned up for the first round of examinations.

Curiously, the figure can be broken down to more than 20 classes of 50 students, far beyond any school’s enrolment capacity.

Kureya’s daughter made it through the first stage and was invited for a second examination.

“She was invited to the second entrance test which she sat for on August 5 and we paid another $25. Naturally, the numbers were lower than the previous sitting,” he said.

His daughter is now waiting for final entrance test results which are due on August 29. If the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education keeps its word, she will be among the last students to go through entrance tests.

As they wait to see if their daughter secured a place, recent media reports have left Kureya’s family in suspense.

Recently, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education permanent secretary Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango said entrance tests unlawful.

The ministry announced the position in 2014, but parents have been left no wiser as schools still persist with the tests.

Officials from the ministry have repeatedly reiterated the position, maintaining that schools were ripping off parents.

However, parents fear that their children will be left out of the loop if they stand by as schools conduct the tests.

Dr Utete-Masango said schools should select Form 1 students based on final Grade 7 results not internal examinations.

This may come as a relief to parents who were, in these trying times at the mercy of local schools.

Parents are concerned that the ministry is just making announcements without actually following them up.

Late last year, a date was set for schools to select children concurrently. Students who did not make the cut had to be co-opted otherwise.

It may come as a shocker for parents if the ministry directs a new selection date. Parents like Kureya have already parted with $50 while others have incurred more in transport costs.

In 2015, Grade 7 pupil Lynn Bere applied to four local boarding schools, in keeping with risk management and received favourable responses.

Her mother is elated that her daughter was invited to some of the top schools in the land.

“We were excited when we got responses from four of the five schools our daughter applied to. She was invited to attend entrance tests. All of them had a minimum of a non-refundable $20 fee and you pay more as you progress for a new stage,” Bere said.

It is like punishing parents for their children’s competence.

She drove to each of the schools in a bid to secure a place for her daughter and upon arrival the scenes were almost identical. Hundreds of students were vying for the places.

“There were a lot of people who had also came for the entrance test, more people than the school could possibly absorb at one intake,” Bere said.

“At each school, children were given exams to write and the schools then promised to call the short-listed students to another orientation process,” she added.

After the tests two of the four responded favourably. She had to fork out extra money for her daughter to sit for second tests.

Her expenses for the application processes including the fees and transport aggregated to something in the region of $500.

Fortunately, her daughter ended up going to one of the schools she had applied to. Some are not as lucky. The last they hear of these schools is when their child sits for the second entrance test.

Some schools seem to have totally plugged their ears to the ministry’s repeated directives that they stop holding entrance tests.

In an interview with this publication in 2014, Minister Dokora said schools must enroll Form 1 students based on Zimsec Grade 7 results.

But most schools have been acting to contrary and have since advertised for entrance tests this year.

Chief among the culprits are boarding schools. Is this time to revert to the old system where Grade 7 and O Level students would fill out a form showing their preferred top five schools?

In the 1980s and 1990s, primary and secondary schools would receive forms from the Ministry of Education and pass them on to prospective students to fill with five secondary and A Level schools of their choice.

After the final Grade 7 and O Level results were out, the headmasters from those schools would meet with lists selecting the students they wanted.

This method was cost-effective for the parents. No extra costs were involved.

The model was then abandoned for the entrance tests which have courted much controversy, particularly since the dollarisation era when some schools moved to cash in on them.

Experts also seem to have problems with the profit oriented way schools were holding the entrance tests.

Educationist and a lecturer in the department of technical education at the University of Zimbabwe Dr Peter Kwaira said the major flaw with the entrance test system is not the examinations themselves but the money attached to them.

“In this case, the reason for banning entrance tests should be clear, there is need to interrogate what was wrong in its implementation.

The ministry was supposed to oversee the process as they are the custodians of local education, applying a more hands on approach” Dr Kwaira said.

He suggested that the system should be open to everyone and the motive rationale behind the ban needs to be clear before embarking on an alternative model.

“Part of the evil of entrance tests was that schools would invite more students than they can enroll. This means that some would be turned away after parting with their money.”

Dr Kwaira further explained that scrapping the entrance examinations would not change much as the students have to be assessed at some point in their academic life.

“The students have to be assessed before or after enrolment. So even if the entrance tests are scrapped the students will be tested for the tutors to be aware of their abilities,” he said.

Asked on whether the old system where students would fill forms highlighting the five schools they wanted to attend and await decisions from the respective schools’ heads was better than entrance tests, he said the two models should be complementary.

“The two models can`t substitute each other, the forms can be used for students to identify and notify schools of their interest in them, while entrance tests can then come in handy in assessing the child’s ability so that they can be grouped accordingly.”

Social commentator Michael Mupotaringa chastised the entrance test model saying it systematically excludes under-performing students.

Education in post-colonial Zimbabwe is meant to be inclusive rather than to bottle-neck students out, especially from commercial motivations.

The new curriculum framework for primary and secondary schools makes reference to giving students a fair chance at education and equipping them with exit profiles and skill sets which empower them to face life on their own.

The profit motive currently driving schools to fleece parents is against the spirit of this newly incepted framework.

“When the schools hold entrance tests which are informal, are they saying that formal results from Zimsec will not be a sufficient measure of the child’s ability?” Mupotaringa queried.

“Recruiting based on entrance tests results is not entirely justifiable because it seems as if we will be saying those who fail do not deserve to proceed,” Mupotaringa said.

He added that if a child fails an entrance test at a school of choice there is a possibility for failure in the final Grade 7 examinations stemming from the disappointment.

Parents interviewed by Herald Review suggested that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary education should take a more direct approach in dealing with this recurring menace of entrance tests.

Marshall Mukombachoto of Kuwadzana said the entrance tests are a waste of resources.

“The ban should be effected because the entrance examination are a duplication of the role Zimsec examination should serve. The schools should have trust in Zimsec as it tests students using a standard criteria,” Mukombachoto said.

He added that the lack of transparency on the schools’ part has made the whole process questionable.

“It would have been noble considering that it was a chance for the schools to make an extra amount of money. Problem is that there is financial opacity and room for the abuse of those funds,” he said.

Miriam Chifamba another parent castigated the Ministry of Primary and Secondary school for being passive to the plight of the parents.

“Ministry officials have been making these statements time and again but they are doing nothing to deal with schools that have continued to making people write entrance tests.

“If they effect a statutory instrument to this effect and outline consequences, schools would refrain from abuse. As it is, they are simply saying what they have been saying all along,” Chifamba said.

She added that there was nothing important in the recent announcement by the ministry if they are not coming with punitive specifications for offenders.

The entrance test system has not always been the method used to identify prospective schools and growing numbers are suggesting that schools revert to the old way of doing things, while others are suggesting more innovative ways that do not require money.

The education ministry was yet to clarify its implementation process at the time of going to press. The minister’s office asked for written questions but was still to respond.

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