Panic Among Learners As Exams Loom

Gwanda rural learners feel they are not ready to sit for their final exams this year. Image by Unsplash

BY AMANDA NCUBE | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | OCT 18, 2021

The announcement by the government that learners will begin exams at the end of November has left marginalised pupils, disadvantaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertain about the future.

GWANDA (The Citizen Bulletin) — Stanford Dube, an O Level pupil at Nhwali Secondary School in Gwanda District, is uncertain whether he is prepared to write his examinations this year because he had limited learning time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government has announced that public examinations will begin at the end of November for Grade Seven candidates, while O and A Level candidates will write their examinations in mid-December going into January.

Due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown, pupils this year had limited learning time. Some teachers resorted to conducting extra lessons and online lessons for learners to catch up to make up for lost time. The government also introduced radio lessons.

Most of the learners in rural areas have failed to access these alternative learning platforms. Dube says he did not have access to extra lessons during the long holiday. He was also not able to access online classes as he does not have a smartphone.

“When schools were closed, I was mainly studying on my own at home or with my friends because I couldn’t access any learning platforms. We don’t have teachers who conduct extra lessons in my area, making it difficult for me to make up for lost time.”

“I have lost out on a lot of learning time, and I fear that I might fail if we are supposed to write examinations this year. We are now learning, but there is so much ground to cover over a short space of time.”
Stanford Dube, an O Level pupil

Dube has heard of radio lessons, but he cannot access them as his area does not have a network signal. He feels that they must be allowed to write examinations next year after they have completed the syllabus.

Most rural learners failed to access alternative learning platforms due to poor network signals. Image by UNICEF

Parents are also worried that if their children are not well prepared for examinations, they might fail. Mavis Khumalo from the Ngoma area says most teachers from their area stay in urban areas, making it difficult for learners to access extra lessons.

“For people like us who stay in remote areas once schools close, teachers jump onto the first bus available and go back to the urban areas. We don’t have teachers who can conduct extra lessons here. In the urban areas, learners have easy access to extra lessons, which helps children to make up for lost time.”
Mavis Khumalo

While extra lessons are now being conducted in rural areas, they are not common in most areas.

Extra lessons have become a major source of learning for pupils in urban areas. Proximity to schools and teachers’ houses has made it easier. However, the cost of extra lessons has remained a hindrance for many as teachers demand forex in exchange for their services.

“The feedback that we get from our children is that there isn’t much learning which takes place in classes. It seems like the only way to ensure children learn vigorously is through extra lessons or enrolling children at private schools. For us, in the rural areas it’s difficult because these extra lessons are not there,” says Cleopas Ntuli from Gwakwe Village in Gwanda.

He believes that the government has to consider the challenges faced by the rural child and not disadvantage them.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) President Dr Takavafira Zhou says exams can only be written next year as pupils need three months of uninterrupted learning time to cover up for the time which was lost as a result of the lockdown. He believes learners must write exams around mid-January to February next year.

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In his view, learners can only write their exams once teachers have completed their syllabus.

This year schools were supposed to open in January, but they opened in March. Schools closed on June 4 and were set to open on June 28, but re-opening was postponed. Schools were eventually re-opened last month. Due to the pandemic, school holidays have been prolonged, leaving learners with limited time to have face-to-face lessons with their teachers.

Primary and Secondary School Deputy Minister Edgar Moyo says the examinations timetable is yet to be released, but exams are set to begin. He says frantic efforts are being made to prepare learners well for exams. To cater to learners who did not have access to online learning, modules and study packs have been distributed to schools with no network or signal.

“We are employing catch up strategies to ensure that the children are brought up to speed. These include clinical remediation, where a teacher has to identify gaps for each learner and develop strategies to address them. There is also blended learning where teachers can combine some topics and target certain key topics to compress the syllabus and online learning,” says the Deputy Minister.

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