By A Correspondent| Primary and Secondary Education Parliamentary Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said pupils who wrote Grade Seven public examinations last year should be allowed to re-sit for fresh examinations in June.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga said as a committee they have proposed that class of 2020 Grade Seven pupils who wish to rewrite their examinations must be afforded the opportunity to do so in June.

“As a committee we have proposed to facilitate and allow students who wish to re-write their exams in June as normally done by Zimsec for O-level and A-level students who re-write in June. Zimsec should set a different paper from the 2020 one to give those who want to re-write an opportunity to do so,” she said.

Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) national secretary general Mr Goodwill Taderera said many rural schools in Zimbabwe are falling short on infrastructure and this includes classrooms and teacher accommodation. He said Covid-19 has worsened the plight of rural schools.

“The rural to urban divide has always been there in terms of our schools infrastructure, lack of books and other learning resources and the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the rural education in that schools had to close and rural students did not have much time to learn as we were coming from the teachers’ incapacitation,” said Mr Taderera.

Mr Taderera said rural pupils have challenges in connectivity, lack of gadgets and also data in accessing online lessons. Sometimes pupils walk more than 15km to and from school which compromises their academic performance. He pleaded with Government and other stakeholders to improve infrastructure in rural schools and empower rural teachers so that goals set in the new curriculum are met.

“We plead with the Government pay teachers sufficiently for them to be attracted to rural schools so as to bridge the gap between urban and rural areas in terms of education standards,” he said.

-State Media