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HYDE Park North Cluster under Khami District has honoured its schools and pupils who did well in last year’s final examinations during a Better Schools Programme Zimbabwe (BSPZ) awards ceremony held at St Bernard’s Primary School in Pumula. The cluster, which has five primary schools and three secondary schools, also honoured its teachers who produced the best results.
The overall best primary school was St Bernard’s, which had an overall percentage pass rate of 83 percent.
One pupil from Amaswazi in Pumula North was rewarded for passing with four units, while three pupils from JW Mthimkhulu in Magwegwe West received certificates and hampers for passing with five units each. Two pupils from St Bernard’s and one from Malindela were also recognized for passing with five units.
The best primary school in the Grade Seven English examinations was Amaswazi with 92 percent while J.W Mthimkhulu scooped the first prize in Mathematics with 90 percent.
For the General Paper and Shona, St Bernard’s was the winner with 86 percent and 100 percent respectively.
Amaswazi, Malindela and St Bernard’s all received awards for coming out with a 97 percent rate in IsiNdebele.
For the Ordinary Level category St Bernard’s High School came out tops with the highest percentage rate of 37.8 percent. Six pupils from St Bernard’s and Pumula High Schools received certificates and hampers for passing with more than five As and the highest pupil was Zibusiso Sikhosana with seven As.
Pumula High School scooped the first prize in the Advanced Level category with a 90.7 percent pass rate.
Seven candidates from Pumula and Amhlophe schools passed with 14 and 15 points in the Arts and Commercial subjects.
Excelling pupils were also awarded for performing well in different sporting disciplines and cultural activities in provincial and district competitions.
Speaking at the ceremony, National University of Science and Technology (Nust) director of information and public relations, Mr Felix Moyo said there was an urgent need for the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture to revamp the curriculum so that it becomes relevant to the country’s environment culturally, socially and economically.
“Our curriculum overhaul is long overdue. As a nation we are doing ourselves a lot of disservice by delaying this essential exercise. It is not relevant to our social, scientific, technological and other developmental needs. I would be pleasantly surprised if somebody conducted a study and declared that up to 50 percent of our curriculum is still relevant,” said Mr Moyo.
He congratulated the winning pupils and schools, saying passing was important and urged them to strive to do better all the time.
“We live in a world that keeps scores and winning is very important. There must be a set standard and a benchmark against which to evaluate. There must be values and rules that direct those competing so that judges determine the winner,” said Mr Moyo
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