Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) June examinations which are scheduled to kick off on Tuesday, 30 June 2020 will go on despite resistance from both pupils and teachers who have been campaigning for their postponement.
Minister of Primary and Secondary education, professor Paul Mavhima told the media on Monday that the examinations will commence as scheduled.
“…the ZIMSEC June 2020 examinations are set to commence as scheduled on Tuesday, 30th of June 2020 and the examination timetable, as announced by ZIMSEC, will be adhered to,” he said.
He added that necessary measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of candidates and invigilators during the course of examination and that examination centers had been disinfected in line with the Ministry of Health and Child Care guidelines.
Meanwhile, the junior parliament has today said that the pupils are not ready for both June and November examinations citing disturbances to the curriculum due to COVID-19 has disturbed the education sector and pupils have not been attending school properly.
Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) recently approached the High Court seeking to halt the June examinations but their appeal was dismissed with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education being instructed to put in place measures to safeguard teachers and pupils from COVID-19.
Permanent Secretary for primary and secondary education, Tumisang Thabela said June examinations were largely repetition of what pupils learnt last year hence no excuse to postpone them.
“June is a repetition of syllabus, and they are not writing new things but what they have been practicing since last year,” she said while responding to questions on the pupils outcry.
