The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar has suspended the new requirement for Form Six students to have five credits instead of three to qualify for the national examination.
The government’s move will allow 243 Form Six students from 16 secondary schools in Unguja and Pemba who lacked five credits to sit for final exams scheduled for February next year.
Isles Education and Vocational Training minister Ali Juma Shamuhuna, told journalists in his office yesterday that the decision was reached after talks with the Union Education and Vocational Training minister, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa on November 30, 2012 in Dar es Salaam.Shamuhuna faulted some ministry officials for having effected the changes without consulting their Zanzibari counterparts.
“Higher education is in the list of matters of the Union which means decisions should involve both parties,” he said.
He said even Dr Kawambwa wasn’t satisfied with the whole process and was of the view that students from Zanzibar should continue with the old system as they waited for further decisions, he said.
Elaborating, he said, the process to set up new qualifications for Form Six candidates wasn’t legal as it lacked the blessings of the National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA).
Officials from the education ministry on the Mainland didn’t follow proper channels to inform their counterparts in the Isles’ government, and instead only wrote letters to inform headteachers on the effected changes, he said.
“To my knowledge, Permanent Secretaries in the Education and Vocational Training ministries from both sides should have communicated on the changes before informing the headteachers,” Shamuhuna said, adding that even the four members of NECTA from Zanzibar were not aware of the changes.
He mentioned them as the Commissioner for Education Council, Director of Higher Education, Director of Foreign Languages and one from the University of Zanzibar.
Announcing this year’s Form Six results, Necta Executive Secretary Joyce Ndalichako said that out of 53,255 candidates who sat for the Advanced Certificate in Secondary Education Examination, 46,499 (an equivalent of 87.58 per cent) passed.
She however said that some 1,671 students who registered for the examinations did not write their papers for reasons she would not elaborate on.
At least 35,000 candidates equivalent to 79.48 per cent, scored between Division One and Three, she said.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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