Perm sec sucked into Hexco scandal Dr Muchena . . . The Ministry has always implemented the Nziramasanga Commission recommendations
mbizvoo

Dr Washington Mbizvo

Takunda Maodza Assistant News Editor
THE credibility of the Higher Education Examinations Council is under threat after a top civil servant engaged an automotive precision mechanist to design, install, operationalise and manage the database of all testing of tertiary students.One person carries the entire exams database on memory sticks, meaning he can leak exams and issue diplomas to anyone.

Previously, a team of ICT officers based at the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development and the Hexco secretariat head office in Harare was in charge of the database.

Documents in The Herald’s possession show that Mr Joyce Mbudzi, the principal of Kwekwe Polytechnic who doubles as acting director for standards development and quality assurance in the Higher Education Ministry, engaged Mr Francis Taivavashe to individually design, install, operationalise and manage the database.

Mr Mbudzi, allegedly with authority from Higher Education Secretary Dr Washington Mbizvo, has been staying in Harare at the Management Training Bureau since 2011 despite being ordered by the Public Service Commission to return to Kwekwe Poly.

He has been staying at the US$45 per day facility since then. It is alleged that Mr Mbudzi also chairs Hexco meetings on Dr Mbizvo’s behalf.

Both Mr Mbudzi and Dr Mbizvo have professed ignorance on the  matter, as did their line minister Dr Olivia Muchena. Mr Taivavashe is based in Bulawayo at the ministry’s Industrial Training and Trade Testing offices where he works officially as a manpower training officer.

He shuttles between Bulawayo and Harare to attend to exam-related issues with a bag of discs and memory sticks.
“He is moving around with the database for examinations for the whole of Zimbabwe on a memory stick. Such information includes details like candidate results, current and previous question papers,” the source said.

“There is no structure at all. He developed, he installed and he is supervising it (the database. There are no checks and balances. This person can issue results and print diplomas,” a Higher Education Ministry source said.

A Government dossier on the state of affairs at the ministry shows the Public Service Commission ordered Mr Mbudzi on September 16, 2012 to leave head office and revert to his official designation as Kwekwe Polytechnic principal but he defied the directive.

In the meantime, the person he designated to run the country’s exams database continues to be in charge of the porous system.
“The database can be infiltrated if by any chance the officer misplaces the discs that he carries around the country with him. The database contains information on candidates’ details, their results, and can be used to print transcripts and diplomas. Examinations question papers are also contained on the same database,” another source said.

“The officer created a network that links him with 10 provincial Hexco centres and the head office server. The provincial offices are manned by staff who have no ICT backgrounds but were entrusted with the capturing of data in respect of the provincial candidates. The data is then uploaded onto the main server at head office.

“The competencies of the provincial staff are questionable with three of the recruits already charged with tampering with the database.”
Procedures were not followed in assigning Mr Taivavashe to create and manage the exams database.

“The standard procedure is to engage the Central Computer Service Department in Government to assist with the tender procedures for the procurement of a database. This was not done.

“Mr Taivavashe was commissioned to experiment on Hexco examinations information and was paid for the service despite the fact that he works like any other manpower training officer,” added the source.

Hexco has more than 1 120 centres nationwide, including the country’s eight polytechnics. At the centre of the mess at the ministry are Mr Mbudzi and Dr Mbizvo, the dossier on Higher Education says.

“The Hexco is comprised of polytechnic principals of whom Mr Mbudzi is one. It again raises questions on his objectivity and impartiality when issues to do with Kwekwe Polytechnic are discussed by the Hexco board,” reads the dossier.

Mr Mbudzi stands accused of having made a number of other unilateral decisions compromising Hexco exams. In 2011, he allegedly unbundled the Hexco database and decentralised its use to 10 polytechnics that host the marking of Hexco examinations.

“There was chaos. Up to now many candidates have not had their November 2011 examination results queries sorted out. Students got wrong results and there is risk of some candidates getting certificates that they do not deserve.

“The rushed decentralisation has compromised the security and integrity of the Hexco examinations,” reads the dossier.
Mr Mbudzi reportedly “declared that no student will graduate from a polytechnic without a pass in ‘O’ Level mathematics”.

This is also despite the fact that almost half of students at polytechnics are not doing courses that require mathematics.
“Mbudzi has disregarded the consultative processes that are normally done in curriculum changes. Recently, the Hexco board had commissioned technical committees to look into the weighting of coursework marks in the assessment of TVET candidates. While the consultations were underway he unilaterally declared that all subjects be assessed using two components – coursework and final examinations.

“In the November 2011 session he had declared that the coursework be weighted at 60 percent while the examinations carried 40 percent. This meant a candidate could pass without even writing the final examinations.”

Higher Education Minister Dr Muchena could not comment last week referring all questions to Dr Mbizvo. Mr Mbudzi professed ignorance on the issues and also referred The Herald to Dr Mbizvo.

Dr Mbizvo said: “I am not too sure about what you are talking about. I am not conversant of what you are saying. Hexco is a board made up of experts.”

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