Government has with immediate effect delinked the Grade twelve School Certificate Exams (SCE) from the General Certificate of Education (GCE).
Minister of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education Michael Kaingu said the development will be effected this year.
Mr Kaingu said the development will enable the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ) to effectively and efficiently conduct examinations in the country.
The Education Minister explained that the October /November grade 12 internal examinations will be strictly for regular school goers while the August GCE examinations will be for open and distance learning and out of school candidates.
Mr Kaingu said this today in a ministerial statement on the 2014 Grade Twelve Examinations Results in Parliament.
And Mr Kaingu said despite the recorded 108 suspected examinations malpractices, the 2014 examinations were leakage free.
He explained that the suspected examination malpractices cases mainly involved assistance and collusion.
The Education minister has since directed the Examinations Council of Zambia to follow up all the cases so that all the perpetrators are brought to book.
Mr Kaingu has also directed all Provincial Education Officers and District Education Board Secretaries to ensure that all officers who will be implicated are disciplined administratively.
This is pure uchimbwi no plan. Today this tomorrow that. Why are they confusing the Zambian Education system? The June exams where moved to August because one child of a PF official complained that he/she needed more time to prepare for resit . To avoid such, why not run resits at least twice a year. One in June, and the other in November so that those need more time can register for a later exam session.
Why can’t Zambia stick to one schedule of exam sessions like the UK and other countries do. November session for regulars. Then retakes can be run in January, June and November.
Mr minister, its high time our education system was changed to 2,6,4,2,3 system, 2years preschool for 4 and 5 year olds, 6 years primary,4 years secondary O levels ,2 years A levels, and 3 years…
This should have been done a very long time……good move….. Guys think critically….there has been no education system for open and distance learning and out of school candidates.
Will this delinking improve the standards because at present some schools are producing school leavers who can hardly write or speak English!
This is waste and misuse of finance!!!!! these delayments in the education sector nonsense
Never heard of a word ‘delayment’. Does it really exisit?
Mr Minister you are now heightening the level of discrimination. Why do you want to discriminate GCE to be strictly for the distance students. this is not a positive development. People turn to school at different levels in life for various reasons, some due to failure by govts to provide the learning facilities like school places, in what you refer as failing grade 9. Recall what you call failing in one province is the pass mark in another province. Please consult before you through this education system further deep into confusion.
Hey guys I am back., I have observing you for sometime now. Are you ever going to appreciate anything good? You always find something to talk about.
Great move minister, coz Zambia had no proper system in place education wise but now it’s a right move to shape it up
Thanks
Perfectionist
Until today,i didn’t know that the word delayment was wrong.Its delaying.Just asking,Will there be a difference in exams the SCE and GCE exams
Thanks Laso
@zedpoor. Spot on! The delinking of SCE and GCE places a label on Grade 12 candidates and naturally it’s discriminatory in that employers and Higher educational institutions will go for SCES more than GCE!That is a terrible ‘educational bottleneck’!
Mr Kaingu said the development will enable the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ) to effectively and efficiently conduct examinations in the country. How? The ZEC is renowned worldwide for examination cheating. Kids from Zed are now being subjected to various tests before entering foreign universities so what happens with this delink age?
Separating the two may bring administrative advantages but GCE remains the unit of measure in Commonwealth countries. What will happen when by law as expected all children must complete secondary education and sit GCE ordinary levels? If the two are equal, then we can as well apply the same terminology. It seems that SCE will be higher than GCE. It also comes rather fast without sufficient debate and consultation with Teachers Unions and PTAs around the country.
If i may ask…when are the grade 12 certificates for 2014 intake going to be out?we need them asap so that we know what to do next…
are 2014 certificates out I want know