The Sunday Mail
Lincoln Towindo and Debra Matabvu
The publication of the annual Top 100 schools list came to an unceremonious end last week with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education indicating that the list was serving no purpose and bringing “unnecessary” pressure to both schools and parents.
The list, which had grown popular over the years, was being compiled the education ministry. It ranked schools according to pass rates of students with Grade “C” or better in at least 5 subjects at Ordinary Level.
Obtaining a “C” pass grading in at least five subject is usually the benchmark for attaining an Advanced Level placement at most public schools. The list would help most parents in selecting schools for their children, hence its popularity.
For many parents, placing their child at a school that would have fared well on the list presented a better chance for their child to proceed to A-Level.
Naturally, the seemingly arbitrary decision to scrap the listing has torched a raging storm for supposedly blind-siding parents when making decisions relating to their children’s academic future.
The move has also torched debate pitting education officials and parents and other stakeholders.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education says the rankings were misleading since they did not cover all the facets of learning. Further, the list was out of sync with the proposed new education curriculum.
The proposed curriculum, which comes into effect later this year, aims to shift the country’s education system from being largely academically oriented to being more practical.
This is meant to align the local education practices with the emerging national and global trends.
The changes will shift the system from being content-based curricula to competency-based curricula, with focus on learners’ capacity to apply skills in a practical way. Officials argue that, among other things, the list had become source of headaches for authorities at the “best” schools.
It had, they say, become a conduit for overcrowding at these as parents jostled to place their children at those schools. Conversely, lower ranked schools were gradually becoming under-utilised since parents were shunning the establishments.
Public relations officer in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr Patrick Zumbo said, “The rankings were putting schools and parents under unnecessary pressure. There is now a stampede for schools deemed to be the ‘best’ while some schools are shunned such that you find parents will be complaining that they have failed to secure a place at a certain school, while there are vacancies at certain school.
“We are also introducing a new curriculum that will include non-academic subjects such as arts, how will they be rated?”
Chief among the shortcomings of the aborted rankings list was its apparent overlooking of factors that include the selection of students coming in from primary school, student-teacher ratios, among other factors. Veteran educationist, Dr Caiphas Nziramasanga was in agreement with the education ministry’s position, saying a lot of factors should be used in gauging an institution’s performance. He said the ranking list could encourage cheating by some schools seeking to attain an improved ranking.
He said: “The performance levels of schools differ according to an individual school’s policies, something that might not have been considered when coming up with these rankings. The selection of students, for example, affects the ranking of the schools.
“If a school enrols average students and another one enrols bright students with four and five units at Grade Seven, obviously the school with bright students is likely to have a higher pass rate.
“The teacher-pupil ratio also contributes to the pass rate of any school.
“If one class has 30 students who all pass then that is recorded as a 100 percent pass rate. Conversely, if a class has 60 pupils and only 30 of them pass, the class will record a 50 percent pass rate. The rankings list should have some of the issues.”
He added: “It is possible for schools to cheat in order to come up with results that will enable them to be in the Top 100 such that the results may not be a true of reflection of the situation on the ground.”
Reports abound of school officials being implicated in leaking examination papers, ostensibly to influence results outcome at the school.
In one instance, the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) withheld O-Level Chemistry results for Gokomere High school on suspicion that a teacher had leaked the paper to his students.
It was alleged that the teacher had taught his class exactly what was in the Chemistry exam paper a day before students sat for the paper.
In 2012, a private college in Harare was investigated over an O-Level examination leakage, after 126 O-Level Mathematics results had raised suspicion of examination leakage due to the unusual high pass rate which had been recorded at the college.
Another educationist, Mr Maxwell Rafemoyo said the Secretary’s Merit Award was the best yard stick to measure schools’ performance.
The Secretary’s Merit Award is presented annually by the education ministry to schools that would have made visible efforts in providing learning infrastructure and e-learning opportunities for learners from early childhood development up to Advanced Level.
Other factors taken into consideration include curriculum pathway structure, science technology, engineering, technical vocation education, sports, culture and learner welfare. It is widely seen by many as the credible yardstick to determine the “best” schools.
“Schools in Zimbabwe are categorised differently according to their locations and resources, there are schools that have budgets of up to $10 million a year while there are others that cannot afford to raise even $5 000 a year, thus it would be unfair to compare them,” said Mr Rafemoyo.
“It will be like comparing a city’s progress with that of a growth point. The current Secretary’s Merit Award are the best yard stick to be used in measuring performance in schools as it covers infrastructure, extra curriculum activities and a whole range of activities, and not academics only.”
However, some parents said the rankings were good for the competition among students and teachers.
Mrs Mellissa Kadewere of Kuwadzana in Harare said the rankings made it easy for parents to secure places for their children.
“No parent would want to enroll their children at a school that has a reputation of producing bad results, thus the list helped us as parents to vet the best schools in the country,” she said.
Last year, Monte Cassino Girls High Schools produced the best Zimsec Ordinary Level results while Kriste Mambo came second.
St Faith’s High in Rusape was the best school at Advanced Level in the country after recording a 100 percent pass rate with 107 candidates, while Nyanga High School came second.
