Zimbabwe legislators press Ministry of Education to clarify how private students will be assessed for exams

HON. NDEBELE: Please allow me to check with the Minister how the Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA) process is going to capture private candidates or external candidates, now that it is going to be implemented so late in time before the examinations?

HON. E. MOYO:  With regards the private school candidates, they were advised to link up and connect with the schools where they are registered so that they can be given the necessary activities to undertake and take them to those schools for marking, recording and capturing of those marks for transmission to ZIMSEC.

HON. C. MOYO:  Supplementary Hon. Speaker.  Would it not please you Hon. Speaker Sir, that the Hon. Minister brings a Ministerial Statement articulating how the preparations are being done so that…

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I did not get the last part?

HON. C. MOYO:  If he can bring a Ministerial Statement so that Hon. Members can debate and I can also get a chance to debate.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Hon. Minister, do you think you can bring up an update on the preparations of the examinations?

HON. E. MOYO:  I think we can arrange that and then in the next sitting of Parliament, we can bring that up.  I think we need maybe a week because we need to check, consolidate and make sure that what we bring to the House is correct.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Including those schools where there is one teacher teaching grades 1 to 7, therefore disadvantaging especially those grade 7 who are going to write the examinations.

HON. NDEBELE:  In that statemen,t could the Hon. Minister currently also include issues on the administration of CALA because I realise even school administrators in the form of headmasters themselves in my constituency are only going through the CALA training process at the very moment.  Thank you.

HON. WATSON:  My question also goes to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education.  It is in connection with school associations and development levies.  I have done some research and the regulations for those bodies going back to 1998.  Is it not his Ministry’s intention to update the regulations and the necessary regulations?  Thank you.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. E. MOYO):  I am not sure if I really picked up the import of the question.  If the Member could repeat it so that I can fully understand the import.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  The regulations that relate to school associations are outdated.  Are you going to update them so that they are current in addressing the issues affecting the education sector in the primary and secondary school division?

HON. E. MOYO:  The House may wish to know that we are currently regulating all our regulations and instruments to be in line with the amended Education Act.  So we are working on that so that anything that is updated, our Legal department is working on that and bringing on board the alignments necessary.  Thank you.

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