Shamed: 6 schools you must avoid

Marvelous Moyo Gwanda Correspondent
IF you are a parent in Gwanda district, avoid these primary schools: Glass Block 2, Gobadema, Matshetsheni, Ngoma, Tshongwe and Zelezele.We can reveal today that the six schools scored a zero percent pass rate in the 2013 Grade 7 examinations.

Shockingly, officials say it was an improvement: in 2012, an astonishing 16 of the 107 primary schools in the district failed to produce a single pass.

“We have six schools that posted a zero percent pass rate compared to the 16 schools in 2012. This does not mean that we’re rejoicing because our target is that all schools should see that all pupils pass,” Gwanda Rural District Council Development Committee (RDC) chairman Job Ncube told a residents’ meeting yesterday.

Grade Seven pupils are examined in four subjects, Mathematics, English, Content and one indigenous language. They are graded by a mark of between one and nine in each subject, with the higher mark indicating a fail.

A pupil must score five points and below to be considered to have passed – but none of the pupils at the six schools managed to get under the 20-point cut-off. But Ncube – whose council runs all but one mission primary school in the district – insisted it has been worse in the past.

“The Grade 7 pass rate for 2013 was 21,5 percent compared to the 2012 pass rate of 18,8 percent. This shows that there was a slight improvement,” he said.

Datata Primary School, which had gone for eight years recording a zero percent pass rate, finally got itself out of the league of shame with two pupils passing. Ncube added: “Of concern are Zelezele and Ngoma because even last year, nothing good came out of those schools. We will be inviting school heads concerned to share bitter tea with us.”

He rejected criticism by parents who felt the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education was failing in its supervisory duty, especially of under-performing schools.

Himself a former district education officer, Ncube said: “I wouldn’t say there’s no supervision, perhaps there is inadequate supervision. We’ve the vehicles, but unfortunately we have a challenge in securing fuel.”

Ncube also blamed poor performance by some schools to what he called “frightening absenteeism” by pupils. He explained: “When we get to the schools, the amount of absenteeism is very frightening. We’ve teachers that were deployed to some schools but are coming back because there’re not enough children in the schools.

Meanwhile, it was not all doom and gloom in Gwanda as Ncube revealed the 10 best-performing primary schools in the district, topped by Portland with a 100 percent pass rate.