Schools open digital enrollment for first grade – The Zimbabwe Mail

The government has opened an e-enrollment platform to facilitate smooth allocation of Form One seats in various boarding schools and has assured parents that the system is ready to cover all students across the country who require boarding places after increasing the number of boarding and day classes. schools.

However, parents have been advised not to be too picky in their choice of schools as it puts them in a last-minute quandary when a priority school responds negatively.

The e-Ministry application platform (e-card) opened on 1 November, allowing parents to secure boarding school places for the first grade for 2025.

The platform will close on December 31st.

Published statistics showed that approximately 400,000 students took seventh grade exams in the country in 2024.

In an interview with Sunday News, the Director of Public Relations and Advocacy at the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Mr. Taungana Ndoro, confirmed the launch of the e-registration platform, urging parents to be decisive in their choices so as not to miss out on available opportunities. vacancies.

“Yes, the number of boarding school places has increased as we now have over 11,000 schools across the country.

Parents who refuse school thinking that their children will be placed in another preferred school usually only have themselves to blame, as boarding places are not always guaranteed to be available because your child has passed an exam.

“Our strong appeal is that parents should go to the school that offers them a vacancy because if they refuse, there is no guarantee that they will get vacancies in their priority school,” Mr. Ndoro advised.

The e-card system allows parents to select up to five boarding schools where they want to educate their children.

The platform allows parents to reject a school that does not rank highly in their priorities, but the problem arises when parents reject one school believing they will get a place at another.

This resulted in many offers being rejected until there were no vacancies left for students, to which Mr Ndoro stressed that parents should exercise caution when choosing schools.

Another problem noted is that parents do not consider their children’s academic abilities when choosing a first-grade school.

“Parents should be aware of their children’s academic abilities and choose boarding schools whose requirements they are aware of.

“We are concerned that some high-quality schools with around 80 boarding vacancies end up receiving more than 10,000 applications.

“I must also re-emphasize that we have enough vacancies for Form One 2025 and we will not leave anyone or any place behind.

“We expect all of the 2024 seventh grade class to advance to the 2025 first grade class,” he said.

Mr Ndoro said the number of vacancies would become apparent once the Grade 7 results were released and noted government plans to build more sustainable boarding schools in each province.

The electronic card was introduced in 2016 to ensure transparency in the enrollment of first-grade students in boarding schools. The Ministry acknowledged that some students did not have a fair chance of admission because some unscrupulous school principals were profiting from parents’ efforts to gain admission by holding paid entrance tests for many students while having a limited number of vacancies.

The government recently launched a call to upgrade nearly 2,000 additional schools across the country and turn them into registered exam centers to improve the quality and access of education for all students and their teachers.

Stakeholders in the education sector have welcomed the initiative, saying it will provide a fair chance to students in resettlement areas who walk long and torturous distances to reach registered examination centres, thereby affecting their academic performance.

Source: Sunday News

Connected