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AS she left office 209 at Sarum House in Harare on Tuesday afternoon, Anne* had every reason to celebrate as she had passed six subjects, with English Language and Mathematics being on the list.
Surprisingly, she wasn’t jovial at all.
Despite faring much better than a number of her classmates, Anne appeared unhappy with her long-awaited Ordinary Level results.
With tears streaming from her eyes, she explained how she had been disturbed by recent reports that last year’s qualifications from the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) would not be recognised by employers and education institutions.
A number of people in the queue waiting to collect their results from Herentals College appeared to share her concern.
“My colleagues who wrote their examinations under Cambridge (International Examinations Board) have already been admitted for A Level at top of the range schools.
“My father had promised that if I pass, he would take me to one of the best schools, but I doubt if such schools will admit me, since I have a Zimsec qualification.”
Zimsec last week released results for last November’s O Level Examinations.
Officials said an assessment of the results is currently underway, but there is already a cloud of uncertainty that some institutions may not recognise the results.
The examinations were written at a time when teachers were on a warpath against the government demanding a revision of their salaries, pegged at slightly more than $100 per month.
Most teachers boycotted the marking process, sparking rumours that scripts were marked by unqualified staff.
In commuter omnibuses and many public places, the general feeling is that the failure rate this year was very high, fuelling suspicions that Zimsec may have tightened the marking scales to prove to critics that there is still a level of credibility in their systems.
“My daughter passed seven subjects with good grades during the mid-year examinations, but her dismal performance this time around does not match at all with our expectations,” said Andrew Maphosa who lives in Mabelreign, in the capital.
“It is clear to us that the markers and Zimsec did not at all consider that these are students who spent most of their time last year not attending lessons as teachers were on strike.
“The authorities were supposed to consider the unique and difficult circumstances under which the examinations were written.”
Education Minister David Coltart said he did “not have the assessment yet”, and referred questions to Zimsec.
Ezekiel Pasipamire, the spokesperson for the examinations body requested that questions be faxed to his office, but later refused to comment.
But Zimsec director, Happy Ndanga said an assessment was still underway, but conceded that they have already received “queries from all corners”.
“It will take us some days to come out with a clear picture, right now the picture is quite distorted.
“Generally, it seems the pass rate is more or less the same with previous years,” said Ndanga.
The Zimsec chief added that “the trend has not been very good”, and attributed this to perennial strikes by teachers and textbook shortages at schools.
During a field day near Guruve on Friday, a discussion ensued among a small group of parents over the results.
The general feeling was that the markers were too harsh on the pupils who spent the better part of the last two years out of school because of the teachers’ strikes, political violence and economic problems.
Ndanga said while it is true that children’s performance in the examinations had been greatly affected by the industrial action by teachers, adjusting the scales because of that could be tricky.
Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) chief executive, Sifiso Ndlovu said they were still receiving feedback from schools, but preliminary indications were that there had been a decline in the pass rate.
“The indication from the few headmasters I have spoken to is that there has been a decline,” said Ndlovu.
“You find that at some schools that usually have the best student scoring 8 As, the best student scored only 4 As. This is a disturbing development.”
Ndlovu admitted that strikes and sit-ins had cost pupils a lot of time, saying the government should have come up with “an intensified programme to correct the setbacks caused by the industrial conflict”.
Raymond Majongwe, of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said they were also still assessing the results before they make objective conclusions.
At some point, the PTUZ was at the forefront of a campaign to have 2008 and 2009 scrapped from the academic calendar, saying there was not much activity at schools because of a prolonged strike by teachers.
Over the last few years, Zimsec has come under fire from educationists, parents and students for glaring loopholes in the administration of public examinations.
Last year, Ordinary Level and Advanced Level examinations results were postponed numerous times.
*Not her real name
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
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