ZIMSEC Adopts New Measures To Prevent Exam Paper Leaks
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has increased security measures to prevent leaks of public examination papers.
As the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) prepares to commence Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations this month, authorities aim to avoid the issues of paper leaks that have plagued previous exam sessions.
According to Ministry spokesperson Taungana Ndoro, new security protocols include delivering exam papers to schools with compromised security just minutes before the exams begin.
Cluster centres have been established at schools with robust security infrastructure to securely store examination papers, ensuring their safe distribution to nearby schools on exam day.
Moreover, real-time monitoring will be implemented, with ZIMSEC dispatching monitors to all examination centers to detect and prevent any potential leaks. Said Ndoro (via The Herald):
We have enhanced security around examination processes and we are very confident that they will be written without any glitches, incidents or issues across the country. We can even say that the ZIMSEC exams are now more secure than those of Cambridge.
The Grade 7 examinations were conducted and completed successfully without any incident and we expect the same when it comes to the O and A level examinations.
Some of the measures that have been put in place are that ZIMSEC monitors have been deployed to all centres across the country to ensure adequate measures informed by the ZIMSEC standards are adhered to.
In terms of transport and storage of the examination material, firstly the papers are transported to provinces, districts and then cluster centres and from cluster centres they will be transported to the examination centre on the day of the exam.
When we say a cluster centre we mean a school with better security infrastructure within a certain area, that means a cluster centre in rural areas might cover up to 10 or more schools but in urban areas, a cluster will cover maybe two schools.
The morning paper will be transported in the morning and collected soon after, while the afternoon paper will be transported in the afternoon and collected the same day. The expenses will be catered for by the examination fees.
This year marked the final examinations for learners under the Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA).
Starting next year, students will be assessed based on a new heritage-based curriculum, which emphasizes five pathways: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), visual and performing arts, technical and vocational education and training, humanities, and commercials.
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