The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) has provisionally postponed the start of the June 2020 examinations by a month.
This was revealed by ZIMSEC board chair, Professor Eddie Mwenje, who said the decision was reached by senior officials of the exams body at a meeting on Friday.
The tentative dates were subject to change depending on the position taken by Government at the end of the lockdown period on May 3. Said Mwenje:
We met on Friday and managed to check the level of preparedness by Zimsec and they have completed the printing of the papers for the June examinations.
We can say that they are ready to stage the examinations. What we have advised them to do is to push the starting date by two to four weeks.
So, we advised Zimsec to consider pushing the exams by a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of four weeks so that it does not clash with other lessons for the November examinations.
Instead of the exams beginning late May, they may be pushed to begin mid-June. Although there is no extension for the June examinations registration, we are considering pushing the dates. We also spoke of social distancing during these examinations.
However, all this is also subject to Government pronouncement on May 3 when the current lockdown ends.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Dr Takavafira Zhou said teachers have no problem with the position announced by ZIMSEC since pupils had enough time to prepare for the exams.