The Herald (Harare)
Lloyd Gumbo
31 October 2009
Harare — Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations will start on November 26 and 27 respectively with the last papers being written on December 18, a senior Government official has said.
In an interview yesterday, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Lazarus Dokora confirmed the dates.
"Ordinary and Advanced Level candidates will be starting their examinations on 26 and 27 November, 2009 respectively and the last paper will be written on 18 December 2009," Deputy Minister Dokora said.
"These dates will allow preparations like printing and disbursement of exam material to the centres on time."
Public exams -- which usually take about six weeks -- normally begin at the end of October but the dates were pushed back twice this year as thousands of would-be candidates failed to register citing inability to pay the fees.
However, Deputy Minister Dokora could not confirm the number of students who finally managed to register by the revised deadline of October 16.
Zimsec public relations manager Mr Ezekiel Pasipamire yesterday said the exam body was still in the process of compiling the statistics and was also preoccupied with ensuring the exams ran smoothly.
"We are still working on logistics to beat 26 November. From what I have seen so far I think we will have put everything in place on time," he said.
Mr Pasipamire said the rescheduling of the registration deadline and a subsequent strike by some Zimsec staff had negatively affected preparations.
This had incapacitated their operations as they did not know what would eventually happen and thus could not sufficiently plan ahead.
"The extension of deadlines really affected us because we didn't know what Government would say next. This has slowed us down and we are working under pressure to make sure we finish everything by November 26," he said.
Mr Pasipamire said they were still processing statements of entry, meaning students would wait a little longer before they know when exactly they are going to sit for their specific papers.
Students who registered for Cambridge Board examinations have already started writing.
Zimsec exam preparations were marred by parents' inability to pay fees forcing many students to withdraw
Prospective candidates were asked to fork out US$10 and US$20 per "O" and "A" level paper respectively, figures parents and guardians said were beyond their reach.
Teachers' unions estimated that about 70 percent of those doing Form 4 and Upper Six pupils failed to register on time, with the worst affected being those in the rural areas.
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart has put the percentage of those who failed to register much lower -- but still substantial -- "slightly over 50 percent".
Bambadzi High School in Matabeleland South had a shocking zero percent registration return.
Government announced a loan payment plan that would allow parents and guardians to settle the exam fees in instalments up to the end of January 2010.
Even though Government extended the examination deadline from September 25 to October 16, many students still failed to register despite a government loan scheme extended to them.
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