Teachers' Union Says ZIMSEC 2022 O' Level Exams Should Be Rewritten
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZTA) secretary-general Goodwill Taderera said that the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC) 2022 Ordinary Level examinations should be rewritten to preserve the credibility of the examinations.
ZIMSEC told Parliament last year that about 590 suspects were caught cheating while sitting for November 2022 Ordinary and Advanced Level final examinations.
Speaking to NewsDay, Taderera said ZIMSEC should arrange for the examinations to be rewritten in order to address the widespread leakage. Said Taderera:
Everything is falling apart now. We have always red-flagged the ZIMSEC malpractices.
It has actually been going on for years. We have heard learners doing 20 subjects with flying colours and we have been suspicious.
Now this year, we had evidence of learners who had access to the papers before they sat for the examination.
That was enough reason for ZIMSEC to arrange for rewriting of the examinations to restore its integrity as an examinations body.
Rewriting is the only fair way to address the malpractice.
However, Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Primary and Secondary Education chairperson Torerai Moyo, said it is too late for ZIMSEC to run a rewrite. Moyo said:
ZIMSEC is investigating the leakages through the marking process which would determine the extent of the cheating.
If there is a pattern of uniformity in the answers by pupils, as reported by the examiners, then there is proof of cheating. But I think it is too late for ZIMSEC to run a rewrite.
The bottom line is ZIMSEC should be accountable for how it runs the examinations.
One way is to amend the Act that governs how examinations are run to give room for stiffer penalties for cheating.
| NewsDay
