EDUCATION: ‘Grade 7, O-level exams irrelevant’

Educationist Dr Caiphus Nziramasanga’s suggestion that Zimbabwe should scrap Grade 7 and Ordinary Level examinations as they have become irrelevant to modern education and costly to Government and parents has sparked intense debate among stakeholders.

– Prof Nziramasanga calls for their removal
– Zimta supports call
– Min Dokora refuses to comment

While the education guru and author of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training Report called for the total scrapping of Grade 7 exams, he suggested the continuation of O-Level exams as internal preparatory tests for Advanced Level examinations which will then be regarded as final and definitive.

Dr Nziramasanga was commenting on the ongoing development of the 2016-2020 education sector strategic plan whose consultations were launched by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education last week.

He premised his argument on the fact that an examination-driven curriculum puts emphasis on passing the exam rather than imparting knowledge to students.

This, he said, has a detrimental effect to the future of the students and the country since schools are producing half-baked students who will struggle to fit in the modern job market.

Dr Nziramasanga suggested that the two exams be replaced with a continuous assessment programme which is administered at school level.

He also urged the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to consider the findings of the inquiry for adoption.

Said Dr Nziramasanga: “Emphasis should be put on the implementation of the new curriculum.

“There are a lot of recommendations I feel were left out in the development of the new curriculum. For example, we had recommended that Grade 7 examinations be removed while O Level examinations would be made internal.

“They have become irrelevant and are being costly to Government so they should go. What we are saying is that we need a continuous and inclusive learning without stops and breaks and we highlighted that in the report.

“Form 4 exams should prepare students for A Level exams and they should never be the stumbling block for students to complete their secondary education which spans to Form 6.”

Dr Nziramasanga likened Grade 7 examinations to Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC), which was scrapped years ago due to its lack of relevance.

His submissions come at a time when Government is facing criticism for introducing fees for Grade 7 examinations.

Government said that the move was meant to cushion Zimsec which has been struggling to run smooth examinations for several years.

Due to these challenges, observers say Dr Nziramasanga’s proposals deserve attention.

His suggestions were highlighted in the findings of the commission of inquiry which he chaired in 1999.

According to Section B Chapter 12 of the report, the inquiry found out that Grade 7 and Form 4 exams were no longer producing students who fit the 21st century profile.

“It was said (during the inquiry) that the curriculum is examinations driven, putting more emphasis on the ability to pass than on the ability to put to practical use what has been learnt,” reads the report.

“Both primary and ZJC examinations came under heavy criticism and calls for their abolition were made.

“The low pass rate at O Level is reflective of the irrelevance of the O Level school curriculum and examination, for the majority of candidates. The commission believes that a curriculum that emphasises practical skills is more ideal for the nation.

“The commission acknowledges criticism of Grade 7 and ZJC examinations and believes that they do not serve much purpose in their present form.

“It feels that accusations of the curriculum being examination driven arise from an inappropriate assessment which fails to develop and test the right skills.

“It (the report) suggests the use of continuous assessment which has the advantage of giving a clear picture on the pupils’ performance over a long period and hence help him/her to improve on weaknesses.”

According to the report, examinations in the commission’s view are more useful at terminal levels such as Senior Secondary School 1 and 2 (Form 1 and 2).

Zimbabwe Teachers Association chief executive Sifiso Ndlovu also said that continuous assessment is the way to go.

“Dr Nziramasanga is very correct because it is wrong to determine someone’s future through a two hour exam,” he said.

“Even if you look at the draft curriculum, its thrust is on continuous assessment because we want to educate for life, not for an exam.

“The exam system was designed to discriminate and many of our students are failing to go further with their education because they are being eliminated at O level.

“Let’s move our focus to continuous assessment because it augurs well with modern education.”

Some observers have, however, questioned how the transition from Grade 7 to Form 1 and Form 4 to Form 6 will be handled.

To this, Dr Nziramasanga said a certificate of completion and the student’s profile will be used when the student moves from primary to secondary school.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Lazarus would not be drawn into commenting. He said the issue is outside his mandate.

“Why are you asking me to comment on Dr Nziramasanga’s statements? It is his own opinion, I can only talk about my own mandate,” said the minister.

Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Professor Paul Mavima, however ruled out the possibility of totally scraping Grade 7 and Form 4 examinations saying although they will now be complemented with continuous assessment, examinations will stay.

“Our position as a Ministry is that we will keep the exams but this time the majority of the testing will be constituted with continuous assessment,” he said.

“So this means the exam part will now be small and limited as the greater mark will come from the continuous assessment at all levels. However, I am not saying that what the good Doctor proposed should not be put for consideration.”

Professor Mavima said these changes will be implemented as soon as Cabinet approves the curriculum review draft which is currently being considered by Government.

Some sections of society have rejected the idea of scrapping examinations arguing that the move will negatively impact on the quality of education.

Director of Education Coalition Zimbabwe, Mr Maxwell Rafomoyo said Grade 7 examinations are still relevant as they affirm that one has gone through primary level. He also said they reflect the student’s performance at that stage.

“They are still relevant because they affirm that one has actually passed through primary school. They actually test and reflect one’s performances and ability,” he said.

Some experts are adamant that both exams should stay, with some even requesting the return of ZJC.

Educationist and lecturer in the Department of Technical Education at University of Zimbabwe, Dr Peter Kwaira, said if the ZJC results could be made formative on one’s progress to O Level, they could have a greater effect on the country’s education system.

“ZJC examinations helped our education system a lot because they identified strengths and weaknesses of students before they could proceed to write their O Levels,” he said.

“We blame our students for failing but it is the system. After writing Grade 7 exams, a student has to wait another four years to write another exam so they are obviously not prepared because they don’t have examination experience.”

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Dr Takawira Zhou also disagreed the scrapping of the examinations.

“We are moving too fast in coming up with these policies. We are haphazard in our consultations and our researches,” he said.

“Anyone who says Grade 7 and Form 4 exams should go is not serious because everyone, teachers and students, want them. If you go to the schools they tell you they even want ZJC back.

“What is wrong is not the examinations themselves but the manner in which they are being done. Currently, we are preparing students to answer the exam. We should move away from that and create a curriculum which educates while we keep the exams.”

Educationist and lecturer in the Department of Technical Education at University of Zimbabwe, Dr Peter Kwaira said all the two examinations are very important as they are part of human development.

“The exams are very important because they are part of development and human development is something you do not want to generalize because it’s critical,” he said.

“Exams are also a preparation for the next stage because you cannot go into deep waters when you are learning to swim.”

However, in a research focusing on the relevance of internal and external exams, curriculum expert, Mr Albert Mufanechiya established that teachers abandoned total learner engagement practices in favour of drilling exam answering techniques into students.

“The research found that Form 4 teachers abandoned total learner engagement practices and assumed a more authoritative and omniscient role where drilling of examination techniques were the order of the day,” he said in the report.

“The research recommends that curriculum supervision should not be entirely entrusted to school heads and educational inspectors but faculties of education in universities should be roped in to help supervise teaching and hold curriculum implementation workshops so that quality teaching is not sacrificed for examination success.

The research showed that internally and externally set examinations are bedfellows that have emphasised on techniques influencing each other in a flawed curriculum implementation process.

The research revealed that the processes have been achieved with the biggest casualty being quality education as heads, teachers and students defined quality education as passing O Level examinations.