The Minister of Education Dr John Phiri announces grade 9 examination results: Out of 357,988 pupils who wrote examinations 169, 375 have passed and obtained full certificates, 114,104 obtained statements , 16, 396 completely failed. See part of Ministers statement. Ladies and Gentlemen I will begin by describing the candidature of the 2014 Junior Secondary School Leaving Certificate Examination: • A total of 357,985 candidates entered for the 2014 Grade 9 Examination, of whom 182,737 were boys and 175,248 were girls. This represents a percentage increase of 1.29% over the 353,443 candidates who entered for the 2013 Examination. • A total of 299,875 candidates sat the 2014 Grade 9 Examination, of whom 154,506 were boys and 145,369 were girls. This represents a percentage increase of 4.75% over the 285,636 candidates who sat for the 2013 Examination. The increase in candidature is attributed to the creation and expansion of classroom space arising from the infrastructure development and upgrading Basic Schools programmes which are currently on going in the country. It is the Patriotic Front Government’s resolve to create and expand classroom space at secondary school level. Government will therefore continue with the infrastructure development and Basic School upgrading programmes to ensure that all learners who complete Grade 7 enter, remain and complete secondary school education. Ladies and Gentlemen I am pleased to observe that during the 2014 Grade 9 Examination there was a reduction in candidate absenteeism rates from 19.18 percent in 2013 to 16.23 percent in 2014. It is also pleasing to note that all the 10 provinces of Zambia recorded a reduction in absenteeism rates except for Luapula Province. The nation-wide reduction in absenteeism rates is attributed to the concerted efforts by the Ministry and its partners in sensitising candidates and members of the public about the need for candidates to present themselves for the examinations. It should however be noted that despite the reduction, the absenteeism rates are still high and demand that the Ministry and Examinations Council work more vigorously to fight absenteeism. A total of 58,110 candidates were absent from the 2014 Grade 9 Examination, of whom 28,231 were boys and 28,879 were girls. I therefore direct the Permanent Secretary (Education) to give each of the 10 Provincial Education Officers targets to meet in 2015. The Provincial Education Officers in turn must ensure that each District Education Board Secretary under their charge meets specified targets. Ladies and Gentlemen I will now discuss the performance of the candidates. Note that Candidates get at the end of Grade 9 a Certificate, Statement or Fail. Here are the details: Boys Girls Total Certificate 90,788 (58.76%) 78,587 (54.06%) 169,375 (56.48%) Statement 55,739 (36.08%) 58,365 (40.15%) 114,104 (38.05%) Fail 7,979 (5.16%) 8,417 (5.79%) 16,396 (5.47) The above statistics show that performance in 2014 was better when compared to 2013. Additionally, the proportion of candidates obtaining Certificates increased from 54.89 percent in 2013 to 56.48 percent in 2014. The are two factors to which the improved performance can be attributed to. These are: (i) The holding of Annual Performance Reviews at national, provincial and district levels since 2013. (ii) The implementation of the Provincial Learner Improvement Strategy in all provinces. I urge the Permanent Secretary in charge of Education to perfect the two systems so that performance improves further. In addition, the Permanent Secretary in liaison with the Provincial and District Education leadership should work out remedial and contingency measures to deal with the 16,396 boys and girls who failed the examinations. The nation can not afford to watch helplessly 16,396 young people dropping out of junior secondary school. The Directorate of Distance Education in the Ministry must meet this challenge head-on. Further analysis of the results revealed the following: • The performance of boys was better than that of the girls in all the subjects except in English language. • Candidates performed better in practical subjects such as Home Management, Metal Work, Technical Drawing, Art and Wood Work, compared to non practical subjects. • Candidate performance was the least in science oriented subjects, Mathematics and English Composition. • A total of 130,500 candidates did not qualify to be on the selection list despite having sat the examination because they did not make a full Grade 9 Certificate. These are categorized as follows: Category Number With statements 114,104 Failed 16,396 Total 130,500
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 10:37:46 +0000
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