Has ZIMSEC set a Grade 7 examination payment scheme as widely reported? Yes, it's not new - ZimFact
Ngoni Mhuruyengwe
July 29, 2022
Claim: ZIMSEC has set new Grade 7 examination fees payment scheme
Source: Various media reports
Verdict: True (but not recent)
Messages have circulated saying that Zimbabwe School Examination Council (ZIMSEC) has announced a “new scheme” under which the first set of examination fees for learners who will be in Grade 7 in 2023 is payable over two years starting from Grade 6 this year. In response to public queries on whether this was true, ZimFact contacted ZIMSEC Public Relations Officer Nicky Dlamini. She confirms the payment methods, but pointed out that these are part of a system that was in fact introduced seven years ago.
The government, Dlamini said, realised that many parents found it hard to pay examination fees in a single year when learners reached Grade 7. Therefore the examination fees were divided into payments payable in Grade 6 and Grade 7, she said. In Grade 6 this year, students are scheduled to pay US$29, or the Zimbabwe dollar equivalent at the prevailing interbank rate. The closing date is 29 July 2022.
The remainder of the examination fees will be set next year.
“In 2015/16, the then Minister of Primary and Secondary Education after the introduction of grade 7 fees, stipulated that parents were to be given a leeway to pay for exam fees over 2 years. This would apply to Grade 6 for Grade 7, Form 3 for Ordinary Level and Lower 6 for Upper 6. This is simply what we communicated, it is not a new system at all,”  Dhlamini said.
Conclusion
The first part of the examination of students who will be in Grade 7 in 2023 is payable between July 22 and 29 this year.