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Mrs Sylvia Utete-Masango

Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
SECONDARY schools have been ordered to cancel entrance tests for the 2017 Form One pupils and wait for the Grade Seven public examination results to start enrolments.

The directive comes at a time when secondary schools in most parts of the country have started conducting Form One entrance tests as they prepare for next year.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mrs Sylvia Utete-Masango, yesterday said it was illegal for schools to conduct entrance tests before the Grade Seven final examination results are out.

“It’s government policy that schools should go by the Grade Seven public examination results for them to offer Form One places. Selection should be done on the basis of these results not the entrance tests that they’re conducting at their schools.

“All the schools that have conducted or are planning to conduct entrance tests are going against government policy. They must cancel the entrance tests and wait for the Grade Seven results. We’ll follow up through our structures and make sure that our provincial education directors monitor their schools,” said Mrs Utete-Masango.

On Sunday, Minda High School in Maphisa, Matabeleland South invited pupils for an entrance test on August 27.

According to the advertisement, pupils are expected to produce Grade Six end of year results, Grade Seven mid-year results and certified copies of birth certificates.

The entrance tests for the school will be conducted at its premises in Maphisa as well as at Bulawayo’s St Patricks Primary School in Makokoba suburb and at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church in Gwanda.

Last week parents seeking Form One places at John Tallach High School in Matabeleland North condemned the school’s decision to charge them $5 each for an entrance test.

The school, which had the best 2015 Ordinary Level public examination results in Matabeleland North province, conducted Form One entrance tests for 2017 at Thembiso Primary School in Bulawayo’s Luveve suburb.

The school invited more than 1 000 pupils, yet it can only cater for less than 150 pupils at Form One. — @pamelashumba1