CHEGUTU – Dozens of students at Mutimusakwa Secondary School in Chegutu were Monday forced to sit for their ordinary level examinations at night after officials from the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (ZIMSEC) delivered question papers late.
This was revealed by the Amalgamated Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) which has been active in championing both teacher and student affairs in the country.
“ZIMSEC has failed to deliver question papers and answer sheets/booklets on time,” said the union.
“Students at Mutimusakwa School in Chegutu District were let down by the new system implemented by the education body.
“The English exam papers were forgotten and not made available. Students were forced to rely on torch light to write their exams in the middle of the night.”
Government recently introduced delivery of exam papers to various centres on the day of writing in an attempt to plug rampant exam paper leakages in the country.
The measures have been received with criticism by ARTUZ which feels authorities were applying cosmetic solutions to a deep-seated problem.
ARTUZ said it was appalled by the gross incompetence exhibited by the government examination body.
Union leader president Obert Masaraure also told ZimLive that candidates who were earlier informed they were sitting for their examinations at satellite centres were later redirected to totally different venues, forcing them to travel distances of up to 20km to the new centres.
“The anxieties associated with these delays affect learners particularly in rural schools,” Masaraure said of a bungled public examination system.
He added, “It is unacceptable to have learners walk up to 20km to write an examination.
“The schools have been doing exceptionally well on storage of exam materials; this change was ill advised and rushed.”
Examination candidates also shared their frustrations with the changes saying the bungled process weighed down on their mental preparedness.
“We would have revised and refreshed and in the mood to write but these delays really weigh down on us mentally,” said one Bulawayo student Tuesday.
“You get tired while waiting for a 2PM exam only to write it more than three hours later.
“This impacts on our grades. ZIMSEC must do better.”
The delay in delivery of examination papers is a carbon copy of similar delays in the delivery of ballot papers during the country’s disputed August elections with some polling stations forced to vote at night.
