Paul Mavhima
Clever Taperamoyo
MASVINGO – The decision by Primary and Secondary Education minister, Paul Mavhima to order a rewrite of the 2017 Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) ‘O’ level English Paper 2 has been reversed by High Court Judge, Justice Loice Matanda Moyo.
The judgement was welcomed by stakeholders in the education sectors, parents and pupils who felt children were being punished for the gross incompetence and corruption at Zimsec.
Progressive Teacher’s Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), president Dr Takavafira Zhou welcomed the ruling as good for the protection of children from ‘educational vandalism’.
“Once again, history has absolved PTUZ and other progressive forces in Zimbabwe. There was so much vitriolic attacks from government officials, yellow unions and some forces of darkness but history has absolved us. Rationality has emerged victorious over educational vandalism.
“Justice Matanda Moyo’s judgement has simply reiterated what we had proffered as an alternative to government callousness, vague and vapid machinations,” Dr Zhou thundered.
In an interview with TellZim News, Netsai Masunda, a concerned parent with a daughter who sat for her ‘O’ levels at Checheche High School in Chipinge, praised the judgement, saying she had agonised about having to find money to send her child back to school for the re-sit.
Matanda-Moyo’s judgement, which is highly critical of Zimsec, called for a total overhaul of the exams body.
She said the courts do not condone cheating but wanted to protect learners, thus the order that pupils be graded based on the marks they scored in the English Paper 1 only.local
