THE Ministry of General Education has assured the nation that it is ready to conduct this year’s information communication technology (ICT) examinations for Grade 9.
The ministry’s spokesperson Hillary Chipango confirmed this to the Daily Nation in an interview yesterday.
Last year, ICT examinations which were supposed to be compulsory for examination classes were not held as the Government could not provide computers to all schools to conduct the practical aspect of the examination.
But Mr. Chipango, who described the 2015 ICT examinations as a scandal, said the ministry had put in place measures to mitigate the challenges it faced.
He reiterated that the ministry had procured 6,000 computers which were yet to be distributed to selected schools countrywide.
“We are more than ready to conduct this year’s ICT examinations; we learnt a number of lessons from last year’s experience and one of the major measure we have put in place to mitigate the challenges that we faced is that as a ministry we have procured 6,000 computers soon to be distributed to selected schools countrywide,” Mr. Chipango said.
He also indicated that the ministry had increased the days of writing the ICT examination.
Mr. Chipango disclosed that the examinations would be written in three days.
“We have also added days of writing these exams. As you are aware last year these exams were written in one day, which led to candidates writing exams late at night since we did not have enough computers then.
“But now this year’s exams will be written in three days. Even when the schools will have limited computers, all pupils will be given chance and we won’t have that challenge that we had last year,” he said.
Mr. Chipango however said that not all schools would be subjected to the ICT examination.
He said only schools which proved ready were asked to register for the examinations.
“In as much as these computer studies are compulsory, when it comes to writing exams this year, it is not every school which will be subjected to these exams. Only those schools that are ready were asked to register for this exam. It won’t be all the schools as was the case last year,” he said.
Ive never heard of a subject which is compulsory for learners in all schools but which is examined selectively. It then sounds to me that the subject is not supported with the correct ICT hard and soft ware. How do you make yourself suchh a joke by declaring a subject compulsory which you cant teach adequately due to lack of investment. 6,000 computers yet to be distributed to schools now in SEPTEMBER? What is 6,000 computers for over 400,000 students? or 10,000 junior schools? Are you serious? By the way do you realize that training computers need constant maintenance and regular replacement? Are your teachers capable of maintaining them? and are you able to replace them regularly? PLs BE SERIOUS.
They state that they have procured 6,000 computers with our money but are smart enough not to tell us the cost!!
Poor kids. Being set up to fail. For whose benefit?
Give those 600 computers to Zonal schools to begin with.
Procured 6,000 computers …I hope its direct from the manufacturer and not via middlemen and proxy PF companies to inflate the price.
JayJay you can bet on that!
I feel guilty to be an educated Zambian reading this. Is this how we are preparing our children to join and compete in the digital generation based on 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, autonomous cars, wearables AI etc.
BTW like somebody pointed out above, ICT in our schools is a compulsory subject whose exam is not compulsory + the exam will be written in 3 days. Unless they introduce a pool of exams , otherwise this is nonsense and useless.