Scramble for Form 1 boarding places heats up as gr...

Scramble for Form 1 boarding places heats up as grade 7 results come out

Patience Muchemwa

Stiff competition for Form 1 places at public boarding schools has gone a gear up after the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council announced that Grade 7 Results are out today.

372 603 candidates sat for the 2023 Grade 7 exam with only 25 000 form one boarding school places available for the 2024 academic year.

Zimsec said candidates can access the results from the portal starting Friday December 1, although the portal was not accessible as of late afternoon.

The examination body said that candidates can start collecting result slips from centers collection from next Monday.

ZIMSEC said the national pass rate is at 45.57 % up from 40.9 % in 2022.

Several parents who spoke to Zim Now complained about the challenges of accessing places through the online application process.

“The application process through http://www.emap.co.zw is terrible. Right now I have no idea if my son has been accepted at any of the five schools we chose. So now that the results are out, I will be actively looking for a place,” said one parent.

Another parent said waiting for the digital registration is not practical as one must prepare for the first term now and not in January.

“You can’t start running around looking for uniforms and other requirements in January. The time to do all that is now, before festive season spending,” said another parent.

Yet a third parent agreed saying three years ago they were disappointed as their child failed to get into their first choice school because of the inefficiency of the digital application system.

“The school only called us in January, a few days after opening, asking if my daughter was still coming. By then she was already in another school and we could not afford to start buying new uniforms, paying fees and meeting other requirements,” he said.

The digital application system was introduced after a public outcry over entrance exams which the public viewed as an extortion scam by schools.

Church and government boarding schools are considered the best opttion by most parents who cannot afford top notch private schools. Strict discipline, academic excellence, positive peer pressure to be top of the class and time to focus on studies are some of the characteristics that make the schools desirable. History of academic achievement plays a large part in grading the schools.

Fees per term range from about US450 to over US$600. Total costs for first term registration can be over US$1000 with school uniforms making up the bulk of the cost.

Toc access results

Use the link below:

www.zimsec.co.zw/province.html

3. Select the region where your school is located and proceed to the instructions for registration.

For account creation:

✅Click on Candidate Login on the home screen in the top right corner

✅Click on Register New User

✅Fill in your details and take note of the instructions on the right side of the screen

✅Make sure to select November as Session and Grade 7 as level

✅Click Register

You can then login and view your results.