The Herald
1 February 2010
By Felex Share
A major shake-up is looming at the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council this month in a move that will see a new board taking over from the Professor Phineus Makhurane-led board as Government moves to revamp operations at the examinations body.
The term of office of the current board officially ended in 2006 although the members are still in office.
This is in violation of the Zimsec Act that stipulates that the chairman of the board must be a serving Vice Chancellor of a university.
However, the current chairman, Prof Makhurane, ceased to be a Vice Chancellor of the National University of Science and Technology on June 30, 2004.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart last Friday said Government will shortly appoint on a new board to run the troubled examinations body.
He, however, declined to disclose the names of the proposed new board members.
Minister Coltart said “only a few” members of the old board would be retained in the new board.
Minister Coltart expressed concern that parents had lost faith in Zimsec as an examination institution, opting to register their children with the University of Cambridge.
“People have lost faith, thus as a ministry, we are focusing on restoring confidence and this could be done by fully revamping operations at the local examinations board,” he said.
Some schools have opted out of the local examination syndicate amid reports that in Bulawayo, schools scrapped Ndebele lessons in favour of Zulu, which is offered at Cambridge.
He said some members in the outgoing board were ineligible to hold positions at Zimsec according to Zimbabwean laws.