University of Zambia Students Union (UNZASU), President Dickson Mutambo has announced the suspension of the Continuous Assessment(CA) Policy.
The policy states that for UNZA students to be eligible to sit for either midterm or sessional exams, they must attain at least 50 percent.
Mr. Mutambo said the current policy does not reflect the prevailing learning conditions at UNZA, noting that while the policy has been in place for a long time, it may have only been effective at the time it was introduced.
He made the announcement in a post on his official Facebook page on Monday, August 4, 2025, monitored by Lusaka Star.
“Service and Excellence! That’s the motto, which means that for our students to achieve excellent performance, there must be a service that supports the attainment of those desired results,”he stated.
“Unfortunately, the service has been below par. If management is not delivering excellent results, how can students be expected to perform excellently?”
Mr. Mutambo argued that poor sanitation, insufficient study and lecture venues, absent lecturers, delayed feedback on CA assessments, among other challenges, have rendered the policy unfair to the student body.
“Many unions before us fought and won this battle, but only temporarily, as the policy was merely waived for the next academic year. The next union would then raise the same concerns previously addressed,”he said.
“Our union, focused on finding permanent solutions, successfully pushed for the suspension of this policy, with a view to having it amended to better suit the current learning conditions of our students.”
Mr. Mutambo further stated that the aim was to ensure that the union no longer has to revisit the same issue, thereby allowing future unions to engage in new, more productive discussions in the Senate.
“An ad hoc committee, chaired by the Dean of the School of Humanities, will sit to re-evaluate this policy and submit any proposed changes to the Senate,” he disclosed.
“We will only accept it back as policy if it aligns with the current learning conditions and does not punish our hardworking students.”