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PUPILS FORESEE DISASTROUS PERFORMANCE IN EXAMS

By Wondorboy Dlamini | 2020-07-07

PUPILS foresee a disastrous performance on external exams to commence later in the year.

This was a common sentiment shared by many pupils when this publication conducted a run-through interview with the learners as they returned to class yesterday after spending over three months idling at home.

“It is a good thing that we are back in class but the damage has already been done in terms of getting ready for the upcoming external examinations,” said one pupil. Schools were closed in March after the country recorded the first case of coronavirus.

A female Liswati who had travelled abroad to represent her company on an international assignment tested positive for the virus just a few days after returning home.

Sentiments

The pupils shared similar sentiments pointing out the time lost as government effected a partial lockdown as a precautionary measure to minimise the spread of the virus. Some pupils said it would call for an extra ordinary conduct from all relevant stakeholders for them to have an average performance during the upcoming examinations.

Lubombo Central High School’s Andile Dlamini first thanked government for making a brave move and reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Andile said however, they had already lost crucial time in the past three months especially because the examinations are expected to commence in the next three months. Apparently, Form Five examinations normally start towards the end of October.

Andile said even though government availed learning sessions through the local media, the programme was only halfway effective as some pupils had no access to same. He further stated it was almost impossible for the learners to ask for clarity during the radio lessons. “Basically we are faced with a situation whereby it will be very difficult to catch-up with the syllabus and be ready for the exams,” he said.

Learners

A majority of the learners said however, they were expecting their teachers to lead them through the syllabus before engaging in revision exercises.

The learners said it would be futile to jump into revision exercises without having completed the syllabus. “Jumping to revision exercises right away would complicate the situation and most likely result to a disastrous performance,” said another learner.

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