Zim exam board has no money for exams

Zim exam board has no money for exams

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By Agencies

A BOARD that administers schools' final examinations in Zimbabwe has run out of funds to conduct this year's final tests, it has been reported.

The official Sunday Mail newspaper said the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec) which administers the writing of the equivalent of Britain's Cambridge ordinary and advanced level exams, is broke.

Traditionally, registration of candidates wishing to write exams in November of any year, is done before March of the same year, but this year students have not yet registered.

Sunday Mail said the council was "making frantic efforts to source funds to import scanner sheets" used for registration of prospective candidates.

Zimsec spokesperson Faith Chasokela told the paper the council was "left with inadequate finance to fully fund the November examinations".

An estimated 110 000 schoolchildren are due to sit their exams in November.

Advanced level examinations are a pre-requisite for students wishing to study at universities in the country and abroad.

Until 1997, Zimbabwean schoolchildren sat for examinations administered by the British University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.

But the localisation of exams has been mired in problems. Examination paper leaks, a mix-up of exam papers and doctoring of results are some of the allegations levelled against Zimsec officials.

Last year, some children were reportedly told to bring from home their own answer sheets for examinations after Zimsec allegedly failed to supply enough paper.
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