Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) is pleased that the Minister of Education Honourable Douglas Syakalima MP released the 2022 Junior Secondary School Grade 9 External Examination results and the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Examination Results.
First and foremost, ZANEC is happy that the national failure rate for 2022 GCE Examinations decreased from 13.66 percent in 2021 to 11.61 percent in 2022. We also commend the Examinations Council that there were no leakages recorded in both the Grade 9 and GCE Examinations. From a gender perspective ZANEC is pleased that more females are entering for external examinations both at junior secondary and GCE level. This is commendable given that more females than males drop out of school as they proceed to higher grades.
However, ZANEC is saddened with,
- The increase by 2.27% and 1.9% of candidates that were absent from the examination at grade 9 and GCE levels respectively.
- The largest failure rates recorded at Grade 9 level which was in the English Language at 63.97% and Mathematics at 51.86%.
- The reports of both individual and whole center malpractice related cases involving smuggling of unauthorised materials such as phones in the examination rooms, collusion, copying, impersonation and assistance.
To this effect, ZANEC is recommending the following in order to address the above challenges.
- The Ministry of Education through the Examinations Council of Zambia should commission a study to investigate the cause of candidate absenteeism in examinations and use the evidence to devise interventions that will help address this perennial problem.
- There is need for our curriculum to place a premium on foundational skills relating to early grade reading and numeracy if we are to reduce the failure rates in English and Mathematics.
- The Examination Council of Zambia must implement a robust campaign aimed at educating prospective examination candidates and teachers on the various examination malpractices and their associated consequences.
For/ZANEC
George Hamusunga
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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