The reasons for the slight overall decline are still to be
worked out, but could be partly due to the need for schools and pupils becoming
familiar with the new continuous assessment programme. There were also more
children writing the examination, about 5,4 percent more, and that could also
affect results.
Speaking in Harare yesterday after the announcement of the
2022 Grade Seven public examination results, Zimsec board chair Professor Eddie
Mwenje said the slight drop in pass rates was unexpected since there were far
fewer disruptions this year, unlike the last two years of disruptions from
Covid-19.
But he did not see the tiny fluctuation as significant.
“The reasons are sometimes very difficult to establish
until you do a deep analysis of the results which we do normally just to advise
the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education on certain aspects. Given that
this year students received much more time for learning than in the previous
year, they ought to have done better.”
Zimsec director Dr Lazarus Nembaware said continuous assessment
learning activity (CALA) could be one of the factors.
“It could be other reasons, which we will look into but as
of now, we also think that candidates are still settling in into the CALA
component. This is the second year in which CALA has been part and parcel of
the examination system so it could be that and we will look into those areas
more critically after the release of these results,” he said.
Continuous assessment for part of the results forces pupils
to be consistent throughout the year, rather than just swotting at the last
moment, and so requires pupils to work steadily throughout the year, rather in
surges.
But Zimsec recorded a higher number of candidates writing
the exam that did so last year. “A total of 343 169 candidates sat for the 2022
Grade Seven examinations as compared to 325 573 candidates who sat for the same
examinations in 2021, showing a 5,4 percent increase in candidature, that is an
additional 17 596 candidates,” said Zimsec.
“Out of the 343 169 candidates who sat for the 2022 Grade
Seven examinations, 177 466 were female while 165 703 were males. The pass rate
for female candidates is 43,66 percent while that of male candidates stands at
36,22 percent. The results show that female candidates out performed their male
counterparts.
“A total of 323 candidates with special need sat for a
range of subjects from 5 to 6. Of these, 208 wrote 6 subjects while 91
candidates with hard-of-hearing sat for 5 subjects. The pass rate for the
special needs candidates in 2022 was 30.43 percent as compared to 54.88 percent
recorded in 2021.”
Zimsec advised that the collection of results from regional
offices would start today while the online viewing platform was activated
yesterday. Heads collect the results for their school from the Zimsec regional
offices from today.
The link for online viewing is reached via the Zimsec
website, www.zimsec.co.zw. The 2022 examination writing session was restored to
the traditional times of October after the lifting of the Covid-19 restrictions
which disrupted the school calendar for the past two years, said Zimsec.
Meanwhile, the examinations for the O-Level and A=Level ended
this week with Zimsec saying marking was now set to begin. Herald
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