Herald
By Felex Share
11th September 2009
The Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council has extended the registration dates for this year’s Ordinary and Advanced Level papers to September 25 after gathering that more than three quarters of potential candidates might have failed to register because they were still to pay the fees.
The examinations body had set today as the deadline for the payment of fees but it appears most parents have so far failed to pay them.
The exam fees are US$10 a subject for O-Level and US$20 a subject for A- Level.
In a statement yesterday, Zimsec acting director Mr Esau Nhandara said they had realised the need to extend the dates but the fees remained unchanged.
A number of schools had told Zimsec that it would be impractical to administer this year’s public examinations because of the small numbers of candidates who had registered.
A snap survey showed low levels of registration by students intending to sit for O and A Level examinations.
Another survey by the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe indicates that up to 75 percent of candidates were yet to register.
In separate interviews, a number of school heads in Harare and Chitungwiza revealed that between 15 and 30 percent of their candidates had been able to pay the required examination fees.
Contacted for comment, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart said Government was trying to work out a way in which all candidates could sit for their examinations.
He was, however, quick to highlight that running the examinations would be difficult if parents failed to pay the gazetted fees.
“Zimsec uses the money it collects in fees for preparing for examinations and printing question papers.
“If they fail to get the money then it means a big problem for the nation as Government does not have the funds at the moment.
“We will make sure that justice is done to the pupils who are the future leaders of the country,” said Minister Coltart.
Hard-hit are students in rural areas, where an estimated 75 percent of students had failed to register.
For instance in Manicaland Province, out of an estimated 5 000 O- Level candidates, only 1 170 had paid the fees, the union said.
PTUZ secretary-general Mr Raymond Majongwe said: “In Bulawayo, less than 50 percent of O- Level students have paid.
“In Harare, at Seke 4 High 50 out of about 300 have registered; at Mufakose High 1 out of a possible 315 students 78 have registered to sit for the O-Level exams.”
He said at Tafara High School of the 77 registered students, out of a possible 239, 52 had their fees paid by a non-governmental organisation.
Mr Majongwe said the initial indications of their study were that nationwide about 75 percent of potential candidates may have failed to register.
It remains doubtful, however, that the deadline extension will significantly change the picture.
Parents who spoke to The Herald yesterday said Zimsec had told them to “hurry up and register” but they simply could not fork out what was being asked for.
An irate parent Mr Roy Matende of Harare, who said he could not raise the examination fees for his son, said Government should have done something to ensure that the cost remained affordable.
Many parents had been struggling to pay school fees, he said, and it was unlikely that they would be able to raise what he described as the “exorbitant” exam fees.
Mr Matende said while parents could opt to put their children in schools that ask for lower school fees, they had no such option when it came to sitting for public exams.
“By virtue of it being the right of every child to sit for these public exams, every parent whether employed or unemployed should be able to afford examination fees.
“What we have now is a situation where education continues to become more and more expensive.
Another parent Ms Locadia Sabuta, a vendor, said it was better for her Sixth Form daughter to write the examinations when they were affordable, as she had no means of raising the required amount.
“I do not know where to start at the moment. It is painful to educate my daughter up to this level and then the last thing I do is fail to pay her exam fees,” she said.
She called upon the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to use its prerogative to instruct that all candidates be registered and allowed to write exams while other payment logistics were being worked out.