Herald
By Christopher Takunda Mugaga
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
A few weeks ago the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council released last year’s Advanced level and Ordinary level exams results that were characterised by unprecedented pass rates.
Subsequently there have been reports of some ‘O’ level students who were in last year’s class failing to secure ‘A’ level places.
The question hanging in most people’s minds is whether the high pass rate is an indication that the exams are getting easier with each passing year or it is the new generation of students who are getting more intelligent and hardworking.
It is the economic agenda of every nation from Madrid to Cape of Good Hope, New Zealand to Iran to build an educated nation, which is capable of sustaining development.
To see a great nation in the future, one has to look at its education standards today.
The recent speech on the state of the Union Address by American president Barack Obama impresses on how a nation is threatened when its education system is in shambles.
He was counting costs on how shunning of science subjects by US students was costing their economy. He mentioned plans to out-educate their competitors with their major threat China reported to be churning out more than 300 000 engineers every year. The Asian giant is now the towering producer of shoes and textile to the world with the US specialising in high tech products with a high value per unit.
The fail rate in most American schools is unfathomable with computer games and facebook taking a toll on the new generation.
Even George Bush who was considered a warmonger had a face to see education standards in his country improving.
His wife, Barbra was on the forefront of the “No child left behind” campaign that the former US first couple initially introduced in their home state of Texas, ironically the former first lady was a librarian at professional level.
Most of the great leaders were known to be academics, this means any leader worth mentioning cannot set an economic agenda for his or her country without considering the skills levels of his nationals. As Zimbabwe is at cross roads in terms of economic recovery, we need intellectuals more than politicians. The question is what makes intellectuals? Is it the academic transcript or it is what one can do with the acquired skills.
Can a medical doctor be evaluated by a distinction on their degree from the Medical school or by reviving life in a ward in a hospital somewhere? Can a man of God be respected by his exploits at Amfik Bible College or it is the souls he is turning to Christ that he is judge by?
With more than 10 000 students failing to secure ‘A’ level places at our schools and a stampede for University application forms, what had really changed from the education system we used to have a decade ago.
Students seem to be more playful now than ten years ago, the spread of internet technology has seen most of the school going pupils so emotionally attached to facebook, twitter, skype and other music videos but their pass rate seems to have positively responded to their technology preferences.
A general survey will point out that for every five teenagers who are in an internet cafe, only one would be academic focused with the other four chatting with their friends.
Students are no longer worried about ‘O’ level results, they seem to be guaranteed that they will secure the ‘A’ level places without hustles since passing ‘O’ level now seems like a given.
It used to be so prestigious to come out with five subjects at ‘O’ level a few years back, especially if the subjects included English and Mathematics. To qualify for a university place was like a fantasy. This was the very era when attaining an educational qualification in Zimbabwe was a ticket to any corner of the world. At one point, the whole Namibian High Court bench was said to have attained its credentials at our very own University of Zimbabwe.
With the sporadic emergence of the unstandardised back door colleges, mannerisms and etiquette seems to be vanishing in our students.
Most of their teachers are unregistered but are the same mentors who are churning out future leaders. If the situation continues unabated, we will be another Nigeria where uncelebrated corner shops masquerading as universities are in the business of awarding degree qualifications for just attaining passes in twelve modules.
That is the very reason why a Nigerian degree is quite unpopular anywhere in the world.
I strongly believe Ministers David Coltart and Dr Stan Mudenge need to really monitor the education standards in the country.
The pass rate for this year might be a sign of a need to revisit our standards, this does not mean deserving students are not supposed to excel.
A general overview of the question papers surely depicts a case of predictable questions where “red spots” or “green books” as they are referred to in some quarters are enough to make one attain a distinction.
Surely one cannot compare an Exam paper set in 1988 with the one that was set for last year.
The examination body has to be seriously recapitalised to allow for the genius to excel and the average to do well.
The ripple effects of an undefined examination system are so far reaching and disastrous, it will build half-baked teachers, nurses, lawyers and other professionals.
Who wants to be treated by a half-baked medical doctor, to be defended by an incomplete attorney or for a nation to be advised by an ill-advised economist? It is worrying when students from university fail to operate a computer. The growing number of both state and private universities in this small country are still failing to absorb the ever increasing number of high school graduates not considering those who are crossing the Limpopo through the presidential scholarship scheme. They are times we seem to blame our politics for the slow pace of our economic recovery without looking at some of our business leaders that are supposed to be behind the whole effort.
We have a lot of “jokers” who are managing these reputable organisations without a well-defined background.
The crisis is also worsened by the loss of appeal for our post graduate degree programs notably the Master in Business Administration.
It used to be a qualification for the experienced and those in management but now it is now a program for the job seekers.
All this emanates from a shaky foundation where the secondary education might have moulded an inadequate future leader.
There are an average of around 9 000 schools in Zimbabwe and there is serious need for private sector investment in the face of an incapacitated Government budget.
The irony of today’s academic results is schools which used to be famed for scoring a century in cricket and rugby are the ones which are churning out 15 pointers at ‘A’ level and a string of distinctions at ‘O’ level.
What has really changed at such schools, if the truth be told, teachers at those schools might be playing truancy more frequently now as compared to the era when the economy was stable where there was no pressure for the same tutors to involve themselves in private lessons.
It is our hope that our education ministry look into the lifeblood of success to any nation, which is education as we strive to maintain pole position in terms of literacy levels at continental level.