'Bring back ZJC,' says Zanu-PF

ZANU-PF Rushinga senator Damian Mumvuri on Tuesday urged the government to consider re-introducing the Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC) to ensure that only students with good results were allowed to proceed to Ordinary Level.

Mumvuri told Senate that the 81,6% "O" Level failure rate recorded last year could have been caused by the gap created by the scrapping off of ZJC examinations.

"I believe the absence of continuous assessment which was created by removing ZJC is an oversight which is costing us," he said.

"We must call for the reintroduction of ZJC so that there is continuous assessment." Mumvuri said the high failure rate could also have been caused by shortage of qualified teachers, amid reports that the country had a shortfall of 30 000 qualified teachers.

"Statistics indicate that Zimbabwe currently has a teaching staff complement of about 106 000 teachers out of the required 136 000 teachers," he said.

"We are short of about 30 000 qualified teachers and most schools, especially in the rural areas, have to rely on relief or unqualified teachers.

"This is one of the reasons why we have poor results. They (students) are taught by unqualified teachers," he said.

"The Deputy Minister of Education, Lazarus Dokora, told me qualified teachers refuse to go to rural areas to take up posts.

"They would rather stay in the urban areas.

"We must introduce incentives to lure the teachers so that they go there and help the rural folk who are by far the majority of the people we have in the country."

Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart attributed the poor Zimbabwe School Examinations Councils 2012.

"O" Level results to the crisis that beset the education sector before the formation of the inclusive government.

He said thousands of teachers had deserted the service between 2005 and 2009 disrupting learning activities at most schools.

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