HARARE – The Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec) has extended the deadline for registering candidates for the November exams until July 30, 2021.
The first application deadline for candidates for the Grade 7, Ordinary Level and Advanced Level final exams was June 9, 2021.
Teachers’ unions had warned that thousands of students would miss the deadline as families suffered hardship caused by COVID-19.
Zimsec spokesperson Nicky Dlamini said, “Normal registration ended on July 9. We will allow late registrations until July 30, 2021.”
Dlamimi had no statistics on who signed up for benchmarking with last year’s candidates as of July 9.
Alarm bells have been raised in recent weeks when schools reported that many students were missing the registration deadline. The government has increased the examination fees for O and A levels.
A typical O-level student with seven subjects would pay Z$5,194, while applicants for three A-level subjects will pay Z$3,240. Many parents and legal guardians find the exam fee too high.
Around 15,000 students who attended school through grade 7, grade 4 and high school failed to register for their final exams in 2020 – and officials fear the numbers will rise exponentially this year .
Matabeleland North provincial director of education, Jabulani Mpofu, said last week as of June 30 – just a week before the deadline – that about 40% of students had registered.
The Zimbabwe Progressive Teachers Union has called for a further extension of the deadline until August.
“The government must take into account the current difficulties and COVID-19 blockages, which affect fundraising at the family level,” said the union’s general secretary, Raymond Majongwe.
