Standard 8 results show improvement—activist
Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) executive director Benedicto Kondowe has said this year’s Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) examinations results have shown an improvement in primary education in the country.
However, Kondowe, who was reacting to the release of the results yesterday, said there has to be an understanding of the basis of such a high pass rate as previous records show that passing grades have been lowered to allow many candidates to pass.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) signed by Principal Secretary Ken Ndala, out of 255 583 candidates, 193 795 have qualified, representing a 75.82 percent pass rate.
Speaking in a telephone interview yesterday, Kondowe said it would be important that such a trend of high passing rate should continue as it paints a very good picture on the primary education system.
He said: “If the results are giving a true picture, then it is showing signs of great improvements. And on the other hand, one must also know the basis of such high pass rates as grades in the past have been lowered so that candidates should pass.”
Kondowe further said there is need for a pass rate of over 80 percent in the examination results to truly show that progress is being made as the PSLCE does not prove to be difficult.
In the statement, Ndala says all queries about the results must be routed to Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) through head teachers.
Reads part of the statement: “Maneb will not entertain any query about the results made directly to the board by candidates or any other individual. All queries should reach Maneb by Friday 22 September, after this date, no further queries will be entertained.”
Further, the statement is urging students who have been selected to boarding schools to report by September 17 while those selected to day schools to report by September 18.
Last year, out of 255 087 candidates, 197 222 passed, representing a 77.3 percent pass rate. n
