PROHIBITIVE TAXATION OF MARKERS MAY DELAY RESULTS

MBABANE – Anxiety will continue to grip the thousands of pupils awaiting the external examination results because the Exams Council of Swaziland (ECoS) is not sure when they will be released.

The challenge according to the ECoS Registrar, Dr Edmund Mazibuko, is due to the shortage of markers of the scripts as many of them have shied away from the exercise. The reason forwarded by both the markers and Mazibuko is that following the 33  per cent taxing of the markers’ pay by the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA), most of them felt that they were not making any money out of it. Interviewed yesterday, Mazibuko said he could not commit to the date of the release of either the Grade VII or Form III results because marking was still ongoing. “We have had a great challenge with markers this year especially those of Science subjects,” said Mazibuko. He said although they tried to pay the markers who were mostly teachers, a majority of them, in particular those who had previously been trained in the exercise, declined to come forward.

“They complained of the 33 per cent tax saying that it is just not worth it,” said Mazibuko. He said they could also try and increase what was paid to the markers, by using   the money paid by parents and government for the orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) as examination fees, but that too was not enough. Mazibuko, who also spoke on national radio yesterday morning could not immediately provide a solution to the dilemma as he stated that it all centred around money which was unfortunately not available. He said to try and lure the markers they had this year provided them with an allowance of about E1 300. The other challenge, according to Mazibuko, was that the markers had to find their own accommodation around Manzini where the marking centres are, yet they (teachers) came from all over the country. The marking takes place at Manzini Central, Salesian High and St Theresa’s High Schools. It should be noted that some of the markers of Form V scripts have completed the exercise.

Mazibuko further said the markers had also complained about transport issues because some of them could not reside at places like Caritas Manzini, which charges about E50 per day. However, the markers are given lunch and tea. 
“We have to train the teachers or markers too so it is not a simple case of simply going to a school and asking for teachers,” he said. He, however, said they were all working around the clock to ensure that the results are released as early as possible. Mazibuko said he was not in a position to state how many markers they needed as he was out of the office when interviewed. Last year the Grade VII results were released on December 30, 2016 and about five days later, the Form III results were released on January 5, 2017 by the Minister of Education and Training  Phineas Magagula. 

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