Second Chance For exam hopefuls as deadline is ext...

Second Chance For exam hopefuls as deadline is extended

Nation urges ZACC and Zimsec to probe centres as exam registration is extended

Mop up payment window from 1-5 August

Payment rate ZWL 488

Some centres alleged to be demanding USD payments

Some students hoping to sit for their Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) exams are breathing a little easier after the body extended deadline up to 5 August.

A number of students ran the risk of losing out on their chance to pay after many schools cut off payments of 25 July.

But the deadline extension does not get rid of all challenges that hopeful exam candidates are facing. Many people feel that some exam centres are out to benefit from the tight deadlines by playing on the exchange rate differences.

"Herentals Group of Colleges are short changing parents. They are refusing to take RTGS demanding school examination fees in RUSD currency. Went there this afternoon wanting to pay exam fees for my daughter only to be told that they are only taking USD payments. On top of that they are charging stationery fees of USD$35;00, colour (Continous Assessment Learning Activity- CALA) fees of USD$35 on top of the centre fee… Please may the responsible authorities take action,” wrote one Osward Kamanga on Facebook.

Contacted for comment, Herentals Group of Schools director Innocent Benza dismissed the allegations as false.

Other parents came in to confirm that they have gone through the same experience with the same institution.

"It's highly untrue because we are accepting both USD and RTGS at the Zimsec rate of 455," Benza told Zim Now.

This is not the only institution alleged to be demanding USD leading to people to think that there could be some form of rent seeking behaviour by such institutions. Some of the institutions named include formal government, council and church schools.

“These people obviously want us to pay in USD so that they can go and change the currency on the black market, pay Zimsec in ZWL and pocket the difference,” one parent of a child at a mission school in Mashonaland East who prefers anonymity told Zim Now.

Zimsec spokesperson Nicholette Dlamini told Zim Now that centres should accept both ZWL and USD.

“Zimsec announced that schools/ centres should accept payments to examination fees in the currency which the parent is comfortable paying. Parents should not be forced to pay in USD or in ZWL,” said Dhlamini.

She also said centres must remit payments in the currency that they received from candidates.

“Whatever currency is paid, should be receipted and forwarded to Zimsec as it is. It is not allowed to accept USD from parents and then forward ZWL to Zimsec. Examination fees gazetted by Zimsec are those to be paid as set. Zimsec does not charge CALA fees, stationery fees, or Centre fees.”

But the public feels that without proper oversight, some centres will work the system to benefit from forcing USD payments on candidates.

“Zacc (Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission) and Zimsec must immediately warn all exam centres that there will be a full audit so that they can make sure that indeed centres that collected USD did not remit ZWL to Zimsec.”

Zimbabwe has recently introduced gold coins in a measure to protect the value of the local currency against the USD. The black market rate of the USD is about double that of the official one.

The insistence of USD payments is likely to result in some potential candidates failing to register on time, in spite of the extension.

According to Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) at least 30 000 students failed to register as candidates in 2021. Economic challenges caused by the lockdowns were cited as the biggest factor.

If vulnerable potential candidates are not protected, the figure could be higher this year.