THE Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec) has refused to pay teachers to invigilate final year examinations beginning Monday arguing this is not its responsibility.
Instead, the Zimsec said teachers must approach their employer, the Public Service Commission (PSC) for redress, confusion that throws the examinations into a quandary .
The Zimsec was responding to the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) which wrote to the exams body on Monday threatening to boycott invigilating the exams over the impasse of the invigilation contracts.
“Zimsec wishes to remind your good selves of a roundtable meeting held in 2019, where the matter of the invigilation of examination was addressed by the Ministry of Secondary and Primary Education,” Zimsec director Lazarus Nembarwe wrote in a letter dated November 16.
“The forum which was attended by the representatives of all teacher unions, the ministry and Zimsec comprehensively discussed this and other issues to do with teachers who are involved in invigilating examinations.
“The responsibility that your letter puts on Zimsec belongs to another entity and we cordially advise you to seek engagement with the relevant authority.”
PTUZ president Takavafira Zhou in an angry statement said the Zimsec response is unfortunate.
“It is clear that Zimsec is trying to hide behind its finger, and such a trajectory will not augur well with the proper invigilation of exams. Attempts to prevaricate, change goalposts and shift blame elsewhere are ill-conceived, callous and unfortunate,” Zhou said.
“Such evasiveness and elusiveness will compound the invigilation process. If the responsibility of running examinations is PSC’s, why are Zimsec officials monitoring the process?”
