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Doubts over PSLCE selection

Education experts have punched holes in the 2019/20 Form One selection results that the Ministry of Education released on Monday this week, arguing authorities need to explain a number of questionable disparities.

Edukans Foundation Malawi country representative Limbani Nsapato in an interview yesterday wondered why the Northern Region which got the highest passing rate of 83 percent followed by the Southern Region with 82 percent and the Central Region with 80 percent, has ended up being allocated less spaces in national secondary schools.

Statistics from the ministry show that out of 1 860 students selected to national secondary schools, 749 came from the Southern Region, 929 from the Central Region and 182 from the Northern Region, representing 40 percent, 50 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Pointing out that the overall selection share gives the North 20 percent, the Centre 39 percent while the South has 42 percent, Nsapato wondered: “Why has the Centre which got the lowest pass rate been given a lion’s share in selection of students to national schools?

“If it’s a question of quality versus quantity, this needs to be investigated.”

Pupils get inspected before sitting for PSLCE last year

He also observed that an analysis of the Form One selection from 2016 to 2020 shows that this year is the first time the share for the Centre has moved from 41 percent to 50 percent while for the South and North their share has dropped from 45 percent to 40 percent and 14 percent to 10 percent, respectively.

Nsapato explained that compared to last year, it is only the Central Region which has gained spaces for students selected to national schools with 147 spaces while  the North and South have dropped  by 85 and 95 spaces respectively.

In a press statement released on Monday, Secretary for Education Chikondano Mussa said the selection was strictly based on merit, combined with ensuring gender equity.

She said in the statement: “The highest score for boys was 434 out of 500, with a cut-off score for national school selection at 380. The highest score for girls was 432, with a cut-off score for national school selection at 354.”

According to the statement, the low overall selection rate reflects the low number of schools across the country and a collective national failure to meet the needs of young people.

Mussa also acknowledged the district-based disparities and inequities in the numbers of students who have made it to national secondary schools and disparities in the numbers of secondary school places available within different educational districts, saying a detailed multi-year analysis is being undertaken to fully assess the reasons for the inequities and how to address them.

While calling for a further investigation into the results, Nsapato said students in the Northern Region should pull up their socks if they are to find their way into national secondary schools, arguing that a 2018 research commissioned by the Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) and the Southern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality  showed that students from the North scored lower grades in English, mathematics, Chichewa and science where they emerged the lowest in mean scores among the country’s six education divisions.

For instance, in English, the mean score in the Northern Region was 34 compared to 40 in the Southern Region  and 36 for the Central Region.

Nsapato also said if selection is truly based on merit, students from the North need to take extra tuition.

“Studies show that only 32 percent take extra tuition in the North compared to 39 percent in the South and 35 percent in the Centre. If these are not addressed students from the North will always have lowest selection rates to the national secondary schools.”

Commenting on the issue Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) executive director Benedicto Kondowe said if the selection is purely based on merit, there is need to look beyond statistics and see whether the learning environment is conducive in districts which have faired badly.

He said most districts do not have adequate well-trained teachers while textbooks are also hard to come by and therefore government needs to prioritise such districts with such resources.

Another education expert Steve Sharra described the results as a perennial, divisive problem saying the solution remains in constructing enough secondary schools so that every student who passes the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) should proceed to secondary school.

Said Sharra: “If there are suspicions that the quota system may have influenced the selection, then the people, who are the taxpayers, have the right to ask for clarifications.”

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