adminAuxilia Katongomara Chronicle Reporter
BULAWAYO and Matabeleland North primary schools recorded an improved pass rate in last year’s Grade Seven examinations compared to the previous year.
Bulawayo Province recorded an 85 percent pass rate up from 80 percent the previous year.
Speaking to The Chronicle, Bulawayo Provincial Education Officer (PED) Dan Moyo said the pass rate showed that both teachers and parents were committed to achieving favourable results.
“People are still working hard which is very encouraging. The parents are also working hard to assist the children to achieve better results. Our primary schools are doing well in maintaining an upward trend,” said Moyo.
The PED urged parents to pay their children’s fees to make work easier for teachers.
“I wish all parents could pay school fees to make the work easier for schools authorities. It’s unfortunate that some parents are taking advantage of the fact that pupils are no longer being sent home for non-payment of fees,” he said.
In Bulawayo, a total of 13,711 pupils sat for the Grade Seven examinations last year and 109 attained four units: 75 girls and 34 boys.
Riverside Primary School is the only school that recorded a 100 percent pass rate in the province while Mbonqane Primary was the only school in the province that recorded a zero percent pass rate.
In Matabeleland North, there was a pass rate improvement of three percent from 19,45 in 2013 to 22,45 last year.
Matabeleland North PED Boithathelo Mnguni said they were impressed with the improvement in the pass rate.
“The results are good; we can see the correlation with our provincial mid-year examinations. The mid-year examinations are so tough that we set the pass rate at five while the national one is at six and that pushes schools to do better,” said Mnguni.
A total of 20,013 pupils set for the examinations last year in Matabeleland North with 9,706 males and 10,307 females.
Although the province recorded a three percent improvement, only eight pupils attained four units from about 620 primary schools in the province.
Mnguni said they introduced the provincial mid-year examinations three years ago and it was paying dividends as it encouraged both pupils and teachers to work hard.
Coalfields Primary School in Hwange district is the only school in the province that scored a 100 percent pass rate.
The province recorded a low pass rate in core subjects: Mathematics, 38 percent; General paper, 29 percent and English, 34 percent.
Shona recorded a 100 percent pass rate; Tonga had 77 percent; Nambya, 76 percent and Ndebele 73 percent.
“We’re still analysing why the core subjects are recording poor results but for general paper, it’s a broad subject and sometimes the teachers concentrate on a particular area for example Bible Knowledge or home economics and that becomes a challenge during an examination,” said Mnguni.
Results from Matabeleland South were not immediately available as the PED Thumisang Thabela said they were still compiling the list.
Of late, the poor pass rate has been largely blamed on non-Ndebele teachers in the province.
Parents and educationists have accused education authorities of recruiting teachers from other provinces who cannot speak the local language.
The ministry at first launched a probe into the matter but later dropped it saying it was not its mandate to do so.
Online Reporter