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(HERALD) Govt owes Zimsec US$1,9m

Govt owes Zimsec US$1,9m
Saturday, 31 March 2012 00:04
Felex Share Herald Reporter

GOVERNMENT owes the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council US$1,9 million, which has seen the body fail­ing to pay last year’s Ordinary and Advanced Level markers.
Markers say the situation will affect future examinations as a lot of people were “continuously” losing faith in Zimsec.

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart, yesterday said Treasury did not release money for the running of last year’s Grade Seven examinations, forcing Zimsec to divert “reserved” money to fund the exams. Zimsec does not charge pupils fees for Grade Seven examinations.

Minister Coltart said this created cash flow problems at the examination body as some of the money Zimsec had budgeted was for paying markers.
Zimsec diverted the money in antic­ipation that Government would release money for Grade Seven exami­nations.
The markers were supposed to be paid between 90 cents and US$1,20 per script marked.
Markers were expecting between US$600 and US$700 but only got about US$300.
Said Minister Coltart: “The Gov­ernment policy is that Grade Seven examinations are for free.
“That cost has to be paid by Gov­ernment but it is unfortunate the Min­istry of Finance did not release US$1,9 million for the running of these exam­inations.

“This meant that Zimsec had to look for other alternatives, which they did by taking their own revenue to ensure the examinations progress smoothly.”
Minister Coltart said he had written to Finance Minister Tendai Biti over the issue but he was still to respond.
“I wrote to him (Biti) two weeks ago asking him to release the money in respect of the Grade Seven examina­tions but he has not communicated his position, probably because of engage­ments as he is currently in Brazil,” he said.
“It is our hope that Treasury would give an ear to this genuine concern because this is part of the money, which will be used to settle the mark­ers’ dues.”
The markers were supposed to be fully paid seven days after finishing marking in January this year.
Zimsec has since sent letters of apol­ogy to the markers, advising them they will be paid “soon”.
“Who will volunteer to go and work for free next time.
“We thought things were getting back on track in the edu­cation sector but it seems we are going down the drain,” said one maker, who preferred anonymity.
“They might think they have processed examinations smoothly but they are going to have problems when they invite markers next time.”
Some said the move was inconve­niencing teachers who dedicated their time to marking the examinations.
“What pained us is that the terms of the contract Zimsec has breached were never set in consultation with the markers,” said another marker.
“We were patriotic enough to agree to those terms thinking that Zimsec would honour them but we are now realising that we were tricked.”
Zimsec public relations manager Mr Ezekiel Pasipamire said the insti­tution had communicated with the markers.

Labels: DAVID COLTART, EDUCATION

posted by MrK @ 2:20 PM