POSTPONEMENT OF THIS WEEK’S FORM V EXAM PAPERS WELCOME

MBABANE – Once again, the Ministry of Education and Training has postponed indefinitely the Form V examination papers which were scheduled for this week.

At least five papers were scheduled to be written this week. This was announced by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the ministry, Bhekithemba Gama, yesterday morning. Gama said following his assessment of the situation, especially around public transport availability, they had decided to shift the Eswatini General Certificate of Secondary Education (EGCSE). On Monday, the ministry also postponed the English and SiSwati papers, which were supposed to be written on Tuesday.

Scheduled

This week, Form Vs were scheduled to sit for French and Agriculture Paper I yesterday. Today the candidates had to write English Language II, Biology I and on Friday Biology II and SiSwati II. Gama said an educational decision was taken after consultation with the Examinations Council of Eswatini (ECESWA) and they decided to reschedule the papers towards the final writing dates. The PS said the postponement of the exams was in order for every child to be afforded an equal opportunity to sit for the examinations. “After assessing the situation, I realised that there could be challenges with some of the learners to commute to their various schools and sit for the examinations due to the unavailability of transport.”

Gama said the ministry and ECESWA took a professional decision that all EGCSE examinations which had to be written this week be shifted and learners would be informed how they would write the subjects. However, he stated that they did not have control over the international subjects including French which pupils had to write yesterday. Gama said international exams would continue as scheduled, adding that those who were sitting for AS level examinations had been writing despite the challenges. “The AS examinations are directly from Cambridge and cannot be controlled,” he added.

He said the local exams could be controlled, as they were written in the country only, hence could not be leaked. The PS stated that they were urging head teachers and invigilators to support them in ensuring that the papers were not leaked. He said the country was trying hard to protect the integrity of the examinations. Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General (SG) Lot Vilakati, said they made an input with the deferring of this week’s examination papers. Vilakati said the SNAT national executive was part of the decision-making, which was something they had been insisting on with the ministry as stakeholders.

Decision

He said the collective decision was a wise move, which was welcomed as the learners would be disturbed if the exams would be written and stopped on other days. Vilakati commended the PS and the director of education for being proactive in dealing with the issue. Eswatini Schools Committee and Parents Association (ESCAPA) also welcomed the decision, which they said was intellectual. ESCAPA SG Cyprian Dlamini, said despite that they were not involved and learnt through the media, they agreed to the decision as it was good for the pupils.

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