BY OBERT MASARAURE
THE Zimbabwe School Examinations Council Amendment Bill, 2025, which seeks to amend the existing ZIMSEC Act [Chapter 25:18] fails to tackle the legislative gaps arising from changes and needs in the education sector. The bill focused mainly on administrative and integrity related amendments disregarding other pressing issues.
The Federation of Zimbabwe Educators Unions, FOZEU previously raised the following gaps that should be addressed by the amendments.
- Examination leakages
- Framework for remuneration of invigilators and other unpaid workers in the exam value chain.
- State funded examinations in line with section 75 of the constitution
- Enhancing integrity of continuous assessment
- Cutting unnecessary expenditure.
1. Exam Leakages
Bill’s Provisions: Clause 8 attempts to strengthen provisions against examination malpractice by introducing new offenses. These include:
- Making representations of being in possession of examination material.
- Altering a candidate’s original answer script.
- Unlawfully altering Council records regarding examinations or results.
- Forging, altering, offering, uttering, or disposing of documents purporting to show examination results, knowing them to be forged or altered.
More stringent penalties are introduced for examination malpractices. The Bill proposes fines up to Level 7 or imprisonment for up to two years for certain offenses, and up to Level 14 or imprisonment for up to five years for forgery or alteration of results.
The bill also seeks to improve institutional accountability. Clause 9 introduces a new section (Section 37) allowing ZIMSEC to prohibit institutions from organizing or supervising examinations if more than half of their candidates are found to have engaged in malpractice.
The suspended institution will also bear the cost of alternative examination arrangements for affected students.
Assessment.
These amendments directly address exam leakages and malpractice by expanding the scope of offenses, increasing penalties, and introducing institutional accountability.
However the Act is silent on whistleblower framework and the protection of the same. Most examination malpractices go unreported because there is no clear reporting framework.
The amendment fails to clearly integrate the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in the value chain of the examinations. The Ministry has more personnel who can potentially assist with plugging holes of leakages along the value chain.
Devolving the management of examinations through MoPSE would bring the management closer to communities and make ZIMSEC more responsive to challenges of malpractices.
The ZIMSEC remains detached from the real running of exams and wont be able to tackle the cancer of malpractices.
2. Remuneration of Teachers Serving as Invigilators (and other duties in examination process)
The bill fails to mandate the remuneration for invigilators and other critical players in the examination value chain. Bill is silent on tackling the perennial crisis of delayed payments for examiners. Low morale among invigilators and examiners threaten the integrity of examinations.
3. Accessibility of Exams in Line with Section 75 of the Education Act Providing for State-funded Education.
The bill fails to align the ZIMSEC Act to both the Education Act and the national constitutional. The laws of Zimbabwe now provide for State funded basic education. The examination process is part of the education system and the Act should articulate the disbursement model of funds from Treasury to ZIMSEC for the running of public examinations.
Section 21, subsection (1), paragraph (c) of the ZIMSEC Act should be repealed and students should not be asked to pay examination fees.
4. Integrity of Continuous Assessment
The bill is silent on how to efficiently integrate continuous assessment in the examination system.
The wording and structure of the ZIMSEC Act was for the final examinations not the new system which includes continuous assessment. Integrity of continuous assessment is an area demanding some intervention.
Malpractices in the conduct of continuous assessment won’t be tackled by the new framework. This again justifies the need for legally integrating ZIMSEC work within the MoPSE system.
5. Cutting Unnecessary Costs
The bill fails to cut unnecessary expenditure and is likely to lead to the ballooning of expenditure. The creation of the office of the Chief Executive Officer is usually accompanied with upgrading of the office to a better salary scale.
Increasing mandatory board meetings will also add another cost burden. The board is not involved in the running of the ZIMSEC. The role of the Board is policy formulation. Two meetings per year are enough for the body to guide the CEO and the team.
Adding experts to the Board is also an unnecessary expenditure; such experts should be employed below the CEO to deal with the challenges at an implementation level. Experts among staff members and even externals maybe invited from time to time to advise the board.
The bill therefore fails to address all the challenges facing the examination system. Citizens should participate in hearings to give their views on the bill. This is an opportunity to protect the integrity of the examinations.
Obert Masaraure is Secreatry General, Federation of Zimbabwe Educators Unions, FOZEU
