Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
THE Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) has released the 2020 November A-level results.
The pass rate is 81,2 percent which is a 2,1 percent decline when compared to the previous year’s pass rate which was 83 percent.
A total of 49 153 students sat for the examinations with 39 802 managing Grade E or better in two or more subjects.
School heads can start collecting results from their regional offices this morning.
Students can also start accessing their results this morning online on the Zimsec portal which will be open for five days only.
In a statement yesterday, Zimsec board chairperson Professor Eddie Mwenje said the total number of candidates who sat for the November 2020 examinations was 50 287 compared to 51 862 in 2019, a decrease of three percent.
He said the number of candidates that wrote two or more subjects in the November 2020 examination was 49 153.
“Out of this number, 39 802 obtained Grade E or better in two or more subjects, translating to an 81,2 percent pass rate. In November 2019, however, 50 774 wrote two or more subjects and 42 169 obtained Grade E or better in two or more subjects translating to a pass rate of 83,1percent. This shows a national percentage decrease of 2,1 in the 2020 pass rate,” said Prof Mwenje.
He said the percentage pass rate in the examinations on the competency-based curriculum of 2018, 2019 and 2020 was 81,9, 83,1 and 81 percent respectively.
Prof Mwenje said the total number of candidates in November 2020 was 42 231 compared to 42 543 in November 2019.
“Of this 41 691 wrote two more subjects was 34 597 obtained Grade E or better in two or more subjects, yielding a percentage pass rate of 83 percent, whereas in November 2019, the total number of school candidates was 42 543. Of this number 42 157 wrote two or more subjects with 36 515 obtaining Grade E or better in two or more subjects, thus yielding a pass rate of 86,6 percent,” he said.
In November 2020, Prof Mwenje said the total number of private candidates was 8 056.
Of these, he said 7 462 wrote two or more subjects and 5 205 obtained a Grade E or better in two or more subjects translating to a percentage pass rate of 69,8 while in November 2019, the total number of private candidates was 9 319.
“Out of this number, 8 617 wrote two or more subjects and 5 654 obtained a Grade E or better in two or more subjects which also translates to a percentage pass rate of 65,6 percent. It is important to note that the performance of the November 2020 private candidates was better that that of the same cohort of 2019 by 4,2 percent while that of school candidates went down by 3,6 percent,” said Prof Mwenje.
He said the total number of special needs candidates who sat for the November 2020 A-level examinations was 37 down from 55 the previous year.
“The November 2020 examination candidates were in four different categories namely Enlarged Print, Braille, Hard of Hearing and Physical Impairment,” said Prof Mwenje.
He applauded learners’ performance saying it was good despite the fact that learners barely attended school due to Covid-19-induced lockdown.
“It is important to acknowledge that the 2020 candidates wrote the examinations under unprecedented conditions that were induced by the Covid-19 pandemic yet their performance though lower than that of 2019 is commendable,” said Prof Mwenje.
He said the delays in the writing, marking, publication of the results resulted from mitigatory measures that were put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Online Reporter