Shocks affected exam results—Minister
Minister of Education Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima says students did not perform satisfactorily in this year’s Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) secondary school examinations due to multiple shocks that rocked the country.
Speaking in an interview yesterday after United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) launched Back-to-School campaign in Chikwawa, she said the shocks that affected performance in Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) and Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) examinations include Covid-19 pandemic, cholera outbreak and Cyclone Freddy.
Said Wirima: “These kind of shocks have contributed to the poor performance in the national examinations. When we did a research, we actually found that these [shocks] really contributed to the poor performance.”
The minister said after disasters such as Cyclone Freddy, learners need to go through counselling to improve their performance.
Norwegian Ambassador Ingrid Marie Mikelsen, whose government funded the campaign, said there is a lot to be done to improve the education standards in the country.
She said secondary and primary school dropout, particularly for girls, is a major concern in the country and pledged to work with the Malawi Government to address the challenges learners face.
Said Mikelsen: “I think we need to educate parents and traditional leaders on the importance of education. They can be champions to secure the right of the child to be at school.”
In a separate interview, Unicef deputy country representative Gerrit Maritz observed that when schools opened on September 11 2023, some learners in areas that were affected by Cyclone Freddy encountered numerous challenges such as lack of learning materials; hence, the campaign.
The $400 000 (about K416 million)is targeting about 100 schools in Chikwawa, Nsanje, Phalombe and Mulanje where learners are expected to receive learning materials such as school bags.
The 2023 MSCE results show a 54 percent pass rate while in JC examinations, 122 219 passed, representing a pass rate of 72.65 percent, which is a slight decline from 73.07 percent of 2022.
