NEW EXAM FEES: Zim Government gives in to ‘Fees Must Fall’ pressure… Dumps new 2020 Exam Fees, reverts to the 2015 structure

In the wake of the public outcry which accompanied announcements of new examination fees for Ordinary and Advanced Level candidates, the Government of Zimbabwe has immediately cancelled the new examination fees structure for 2020 and has, instead reverted to the old fees approved in 2015.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Ambassador Cain Mathema said in a press conference Wednesday morning that the new examination fees will be announced soon after consultations with relevant stakeholders.
“While the examination fees that were published are based on the actual cost of each examination, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education would like to inform parents and guardians that following further representations, the recently released circular on the 2020 examination fees has been cancelled with immediate effect,” Minister Mathema told journalists in the capital.
“New fees will be announced after further consultations have been made with all the relevant stakeholders. Parents and guardians are therefore advised to continue paying the old fees approved in 2015. Please be advised that the deadlines for examination fees payment remain the same,” he said.
Recently, the Ministry announced that examination fees had been increased from $15 to $190 for candidates sitting for O’ Level exams whilst those who intend to write their A’ Levels were expected to fork out $351 from the $26 approved in 2015. In the context of Ordinary Level exams, the dumped new 2020 structure applied to both public and private candidates.
Foreign candidates were required to part ways with $443 to register for an O’ Level subject while the amendment fees for a subject at O’ Level was now pegged at $89. Moreso, addition of a new subject would have costed $228.
The new 2020 examination fees were widely criticized as being unconscious to the economic problems bedevilling the Harare administration.