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Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu Bulawayo Bureau

Preparations for public examinations are going on well at schools and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is confident that the continuous assessment learning activities (CALA) will yield more positive results for the examination classes.

The Ministry recently said public examinations will start at the end of November for Grade Seven candidates, while Ordinary and Advanced Level pupils will start writing in mid-December overlapping into 2022.

Government has previously stated that it is possible to write public examinations this year, despite disruptions to the school calendar caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, schools were supposed to open in early January for the first term, but ended up reopening in March due to the threat caused by the virus.

Schools then closed on June 4 and were set to open on June 28, but the re-opening was postponed. Schools were eventually re-opened on August 30 for examination classes and September 6 for the rest of the classes.

Due to the pandemic, school holidays have been prolonged, leaving learners with limited time to have face-to-face lessons with their teachers.

In an interview, Primary and Secondary Education Deputy Minister Edgar Moyo said preparations were at an advanced stage.

“I am happy to say that despite negative comments, we continue teaching and preparing our learners for exams despite disruptions we suffered due to Covid-19,” he said.