By Maurice Makalu
The Examinations Council of Zambia has been preparing Grade 12 examinations for many decades. You would expect that over the decades, their learning curve has flattened and they have mastered their processes, especially with specific regard to: missing results, results under protest and name misspelling.
You would have to have a child’s results missing, her name misspelt or writing under protest, to discover that this institution has never bothered to learn from its yearly experiences to resolve these normal and expected examination problems.
Two members of my family (Cases A and B) and a neighbor (Case C) re-wrote their Grade 12 exams in 2011 “under protest.”
Case A: paid exam fees and registered for exams; her exam number never came. The school nevertheless allowed her to sit. Her results (two subjects) never came out. Case B: sat for History and Commerce, her commerce results came out but history was “absent.” Case C: sat for English, History, Agricultural Science and Biology. Her results for English, History and Agricultural science came out, but for biology, her name appeared on candidates for science instead of biology. The school allowed her to write biology under protest and the results are missing. The transcript marks her “absent” from science.
We presented these three cases to ECZ, accompanied with letters from the relevant schools and photocopies of transcripts for cases B and C and exam fee receipt for case C on 14th March, 2012. After explaining that the respective schools, not ECZ, were to blame for the errors, a certain lady whose name cannot be publicly revealed, received our appeal letters and assured us that it takes three weeks to resolve “under protest” queries.
We happily believed this assurance especially that there was a notice at ECZ saying ECZ would stop receiving queries pertaining to 2011 exams in May 2012. Our confidence was further lifted when, asked for a follow up contact number, the lady wrote 252544 and extension 2234; the telephone operator at ECZ later changed that extension to 2212 as the extension for the lady.
[pullquote]We asked the lady to say, “Since you just check on your computer if the people who do the actual searching have found the results and posted them, would you refer us to the actual people who do the searching?” She said they are very busy and there are no phones where they work.[/pullquote]
The three weeks has now turned into three months going into the fourth. It appears that every time we call 2212, all we are told is, “There are many people with similar problems, give us more time.”
It is as if customer service at ECZ means: let the customer know it’s impossible to help them; tell them there is too much work, your child is sick and in hospital (she did tell me); tell them your job is just to look on your screen to check if the results have been found, and if the computer does not show the results, tell the customer there is nothing you can do.
We asked the lady to say, “Since you just check on your computer if the people who do the actual searching have found the results and posted them, would you refer us to the actual people who do the searching?” She said they are very busy and there are no phones where they work.
What is this: laziness, incompetence, dullness or just the wrong people in wrong positions?
Every exam process has errors because no process is perfect. But it is unacceptable that it should take ages to resolve these errors in an old institution like ECZ. These errors happen every year and the ECZ must have learnt from their experiences by now.
We have been referred to a man the lady said was her superior. All he said was he could speak with her to see how she could assist us. But still, we keep being told: too many queries, give us more time.
This is infuriating!
In order to effectively deal with the rot, the people in management positions at ECZ and the systems itself need to be examined as well.
Too bad to be found in such a predicament! I was lucky my name and results were not messed up.
My kMan,
seems like youe peeps been flanking a lot. Why not just write all the subjects at once like we all did in the nineties and passed, with no problems! I understand that ECZ has problems, but you have to understand that it is the sdame kind of failing students like your A,B and C who shall eventually get “pused” through and get a job at ECZ. Imagine what kind of competence you can expect from them monkeys… It is a vicious cycle, and at the middle of it there is you trying to blame one end and leave the other.
I am not antagonizing you, but we need to look at these things critically if we have to sort them out.
Your comment appears to be in bad taste. Is this how you look at things critically?
By the way, I know of someone who sat for bilology in 1994. The results never came out in time, came out nearly a year later after much effort with ECZ. She missed going to UNZA where she wanted to pursue medical studies. Now she’s in a different field because of this.
This is utterly unacceptable and has to be dealt with; it is unfortunate that such important issues are not receiving attention from the politicians and even the bloggers. There is need for clean up, these guys who claim to be doing search are computer illiterates who we don’t need to entertain for long. I guess this story need to be shared with all the media houses so that the devil can be shamed.
So true LockNut, It’s such a pity that we’ve such incompetent, dull and lazy people in crucial ministries/departments. Indeed there is need for thorough scrutiny; we are tired of hearing same complaints all time. The leader (Minister) is the problem here, it seems he/she is not doing his/her duties because if duties were done according and with agency from the top these problems would have reduced or eradicated.
Unfortunately its all what the title is saying
Role model for the nation! ECZ wake up. With computers we expect efficiency, effectiveness and high productivity there. But you should and must remember that with computers its garbage in garbage out. Do you have truly qualified data entry staff, what about their supervisors, Do the computer programmes work as designed. If you have all that where lies your problem? As the article states, you do this job each and every year, why dont you learn from past mistakes? May be a change of staff would help – junior staff and Management. Otherwise you are sloppy. Being part of the educational role model shaping the behaviours of learners we expect more from you than your present performance which is decimal.
That’s shocking indeed, incompetence would be the word I guess. This is very sad, we should not keep on letting ourselves down like that. I would understand if this was happening before computer times. Do these guys even validate their work? Wrong mispelt names, missing marks,…etc these can be picked in a flash second just like you know the back of your head for people who knows their work. In fact we should not even be talking about this, what we should be debating about is how to improve the Grade 12 results. The Examination body (ECZ) really needs to put their house in order.
In this IT age having such useless mistakes. These people have worked there too long, no innovation, very dull and should all be replaced. Outsource the whole examination council work to a private company; they will do a better Job.
In Zambia things only work when the President gets involved. please refer this matter to Sata.
The easiest solution is to have your children sit “external” examinations. i.e. not administered by ECZ. ECZ is like any rubbish govt department. Try passports office or NRC at the Boma and you get the same level of incompetence and corruption. Please avoid dealing with govt – if possible. Govt is now like a dragon that you have to feed while you starve.
My brother its a pity politicians dont seem to see this. I have said what you are saying for the past 15 years. Government (its ministries, departments) is killing the nation. It cannot do anything competently but noone is batting an eyelid. People have learned to live with such incompetence that it has now become normal to be inefficient. The private sector may try to do things differently but at the end of the day they rely on govt to provide certain services. Can someone save our country from government?
I lost my Cambridge School Certificate and had to go to ZEC for a replacement. I was given a certificate with more fantastic results than I had achieved. I was given a distinction for Physics when I had only obtained a six. I told the guy issuing it to me this wasn’t my certificate but he seemed content with the fact that he had ‘dealt’ with my problem and wanted me to vamoose. I refused and eventually after a few more months of waiting I was handed my actual results. Actually one can see the results of an incompetent ZEC. People with fake qualifications abound in Zambia. The University of London does not issue replacement certificates for Zambians. Just look at the language by bloggers on any Zambian website! The grammar is as poor as an Ethiopian in Imusho
Now i see why we see so many wrongly worded articles here.I also couldn’t believe the very poor english i saw written on the bottom of MUVI TV screen.
My brother, the language issue is really a problem in Zambia, just look at how they’ll send you sms, you have to figure out the letters, words, numbers etc that dont make sense but make you have headech, I see this alot especially on facebook pages for Zambians :(
It is possible that there are scams buried at ECZ as regards exam paper rigging and problems with results. My proposal would be independent inquiry of all contested or missing results in past five years. This inquiry should include verification of the actual paper written and marked. One possibility could be that good results of some candidates are corruptly transferred to other candidates. It is not just possible that there is a permanent state of no way forward for some inquiries at ECZ. ECZ could just be part of the wider problem, but the bulk of the problem could just lie there. I smell a rat.
At least its only 4 months nut you aint seen nothing yet. my niece has been waiting for 5 years now. ECz is full of crap
I see that a lot of people here are very ignorant about who to blame for misspelled names etc. In my opinion, not ECZ.
When you’re given those cards to shade your names, the box (es) you choose to shade will represent your names or subjects you will sit for. If for example you shade U instead of N don’t expect the computer to guess that you meant to shade N.
Wake up people and realise that registration of your exam details is as important writing an exams itself. If you register or 2 subjects and sit for 3, don’t be surprised to see missing results.
My comment does not necessarily mean that ECZ does not make mistakes but as candidates do your part and give registration the seriousness it deserves.
ECZ!!!!!!!!???????????////////@@@@@@@@
In Zambia this “laid-back” culture that perpetuates incompetence & inefficiency: will forever persist as long as these public Institutions do not see themselves as service providers & the citizens (parents & pupils) as their esteemed customers (as in the case here). Don’t get me wrong some of these irregularities do occur in examination boards in developed countries like Britain but the only difference is that complaints are carefully recorded as data & allocated to a caseworker who has to complete the case within a set period, their supervisors & middle managers have also targets to achieve & senior managers have to find solutions to a such issues reduce them from arising in the future.
CONT’D
If the targets aren’t achieved & complaints increase the top director is summoned to a Select Parliamentary committee to explain or worse is sacked. You can have the most up to date computers but a computer is only as good as its user. There is need to incorporate Performance Related management and investment in training in these institutions, a goal oriented culture is feasible in the public sector & can only be nurtured from Senior Directors at top, down to administration officers.
The rot at ECZ has really been going on for some time now. There is too much tribalism there. Almost all workers are TONGAs. The same applies to the new TEVETA. The govt. shud come in and scruitnise all workers at these two departments. You can not be employing people because they are from your own tribe. I wonder how this country could have been if at all one Mazoka (the winner of the 2001 election) was given the presidency? Abash tribalism
The way things go in Zambia generally it is difficult to know whether the victim or the culprit is right or wrong. There is too much incompetence and negligence on both sides…
for example some Zambian embassies we have around, sometimes I even wonder what they really do, they never respond to emails on time and when you call them you get stories like he/she has gone for lunch or tea hahahaha
This organisation needs exams as well.
ECZ what is the problem?
Thank you for bring this to the attention of the general populace. This the unfortunate situation that most of our public institutions in the country find themselves in. And the ‘public servants’ in these positions don’t give a damn, and nobody bothers to check them!! One would have thought with the changing from MMD (who had similar tendencies) PF would have learnt one or 2 things. Its only when our people, the general citizenry, raise these issues – the situation in Zambia will remain poor. Wake up mother Zambia !!
Its not only ECZ but many Zambian companies behave like that including many government offices. Even asking for a quote it would take more than a year. Many will not even want to tell you that they cant do it, but instead continue saying they are busy or even go silent.
The Zambia we re in is no longer the Zambia we were once proud of.Corruption is at its peak in any Govt department i.e the police,passport office,NRC office,ECZ etc.Believe me fellow Zambians if you went to any of these institutions with a complaint supported with a bribe in your hand,no matter how complicated your case is,you will be attended to within 24hrs.
our intellectual have become so fatigued such that they are now simply very dull intellectuals. besides this problem , i wonder how pupils today instead pairing op and book keeping , you find that there is book keeping and RE, or OP and HE, HOME ECONOMICS WHICH IS NOT MAKING ANY SENSE AND MORE OVER THE MASTERS MAN IS THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND ONE WONDERS WHY THIS CAN NOT BE CORRECTED. BANE PLEASE WHATS UP!
Leakage every year. Black people…
They are dull officers as a all they need to be removed things need to change with time
this all rubbish started in 1998 most of my friends results did not come out.
Another case: Wrote exams in 2000 and got a 2 in English. Thought that certificate was lost after 10 years. Applied for a replacement. All results were the same but English came out as 1.
Found “lost” certificate and compared the two certificates. How do results get better without doing anything???? Which certificate is the correct one? The one with English 2 or 1?
Imagine! Just Imagine! That ZEC thingy should be shut down immediately!
the story is really sad…however the writer is too close to the case making it difficult for him or her to be professional or objective. i will suggest to the editor that next time try to ask a more neutral report to report than the one who is involved, relatives and neighbours…this is basic journalism principles. this is not to say though that the events at ECZ are acceptable though
This is the fruit of corruption and promotion by ‘i know you or your father’ than merit. Let us just scrap it and for a while use cambridge until the house is swept clean. There is no shame in admitting mistakes, There was a disaster this year as a lot of g 12 failed maths and they did not even pass an intelligent opinion over it. It is shocking that they( and other small minded government department) even have the guts to reject south african qualifications.
That is the way to go. Bring in Cambridge for five years or so. Clean up ZEC and restart it. We have really lost our reputation in Academic circles
People at ECZ passed via leakage, how can you forget?
Do they still have special paper one and two?
Im pasing through the same and i have bee to pay 1.5m
i want to know how i can check for my grade nine results online.
Am not commenting anything but i just want to inquire some procedures to follow of the ECZ, i want to have a GCE CERTIFICATE in which i sat for exams in 2010 and 2011 and i passed 6 subjects which i sat for, now i want to compile my results so that i have a GRADE 12 certificate. Please help me with the address or Email so that i can contact someone. I stay in KASAMA ZAMBIA
MY IS MARTIN I WOULD LIKE TO ASK ON USING MALPRATICING DURING EXAMS TEACHERS SHOW PUPILS,WHY IS IT LIKE THAN??
The education standards in Zambia have gone to dogs. You hear of exam malpractices every where and one wonders whether we have control measures in place to correct this messy. Even institutions of higher learning like UNZA have similar problems. Here it is even worse especially for 2013 distance students who complained of missing results in their courses. Shame!
I lost my results slip in town…..it was stolen together with my phone and my wallet…..how do I retrieve it,I really need it I had very good marks mwandi
If the house is dirty,it is so unwise to leave the dirt without sweeping it! If the spider starts making web designs,it is too unwise to get a comb-web remover and remove then without killing the spider itself! My point is that if ECZ continues this these same problems it is going to be too foolish of the state to leave them with their positions while others who want to make a difference in this issue are just in streets looking for work!!! Fire them and employ new ones who will atleast learn from them!!!
my son wrote grade 9 in 2012 qualified for grade 10 to DAVID LIVING TONE HIGH SCHOOL in 2013 , Before attending grade 12 , in 2014 grade i transfered him to a different school in november 2014 and made him repeat G11 at namianga christian boarding school in kalomo. now this time he is in grade 12 , the problem is that the present school are saying they cannot access his examination number because the previous school registered him without our consent and he did not write grade 12 last year, but now thats when he is doing his G12..i represented this case to the previous school DLHS, Whom i admitted the case and so far the have consented by covering letter that the boy did not sat for for the exam and he did do grade 12 at there school, kindly help us so that the boy does not write…