National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQUEZ) has advised government to reform the grade seven examinations, as they are currently not serving any meaningful purpose. The exams can be reformed in such a way that they start to determine or be used as as sessement for who goes through the academic route or vocational route.
NAQUEZ Executive Director Aaron Chansa said it is currently a waste of time and resources to have pupils sit for grade seven examinations because whoever sits for the exams proceeds to grade eight whether they obtain good marks or not.
In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Chansa said he does not agree that the exams must be abolished but instead they should be reformed, adding that school based assessments are supposed to be there but must run side by side with the final examinations.
Chansa said there is need to re-introduce the cutoff point and anyone say, who gets below 600 out of 900 should be required to repeat or if they are vocationally talented, they need to be allowed to proceed and use the vocational pathway.
“In as much as we agree with the Permanent Secretary, Jobbicks Kalumba, that in its current form, the grade 7 exams are doing nothing because anyone who sits for them is allowed to go to the next grade, even if they get 20 marks out of 900 marks, we are of the view that they should not be abolished, he said.”
He said the curriculum says that grade seven exams should be a departure point for learners who are academically gifted and those who are vocationally tailored, so the exams should be reformed to speak to that policy direction.
He added that there is need to reintroduce the cut off point and minimum points should be say 600, so that only those that meet the cutoff point can proceed to grade 8 and those who want to follow the skills or vocational pathway should be given that opportunity so that we don’t have grade eights who cannot read and write.
He noted that if reforms are not instituted, there will be need to call for the abolishment of these exams. Chansa said the current policy is not beneficial to pupils because even those who are not academically gifted are forced to be in an academic class, when they are supposed to be in a vocational class, which is not good because not everyone is academically oriented.
Ministry of General Education Permanent Secretary Jobbicks Kalumba is of the view that grade seven examinations should be abolished because they are a cost to government. Some private schools in Zambia already have a pathway we’re grade seven exams are not attempted with progress being made through the school assessment systems.
