Zimsec attributed the increased pass rate to the resumption
of normal classes learning after the Covid-19 era, along with the Ministry of
Primary and Secondary Education’s continuing improvements, ensuring more pupils
received better teaching.
The Grade 7 online results were expected to be open on the
Zimsec portal as of yesterday, starting at 3pm with heads of schools able to
collect the printed results from their Zimsec regional offices on Monday.
Announcing the results and the 5,48 percent improvement in
the pass rate, Zimsec board chairperson Professor Eddie Mwenje said: “The
increase in pass rate could be attributed to the return to the normal school
calendar after the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and also the
interventions by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in terms of
teaching and learning,” he said.
Girls not only on average did better than boys, but more of
them sat the examination to start with. Prof Mwenje said of the 372 603
candidates who sat for the 2023 Grade 7 examination, 193 520 were girls while
179 083 were boys.
A total of 357 special needs candidates sat for five or six
subjects. “Of these 194 wrote six subjects and 113 with hard of hearing sat for
five subjects yielding an overall average pass rate of 42,99 percent for all
learners with special needs compared to 29,8 percent in 2022,” he said, a huge
jump in teaching quality for these children with special needs whose pass rates
are now exceptional close to those of the overall average.
Primary and Secondary Education Permanent Secretary Mr
Moses Mhike who was present during the announcement of the results thanked
district inspectors, teachers and parents for a pivotal role they played in
improving this year’s pass rate.
Mr Mhike took the opportunity to stress that the Grade
seven results were the only tests for high school entrance and private tests
were illegal. “The correct position for the entrance test is that they are not
legal, they are actually illegal,” he said. The ministry would also review next
year’s fees proposals by schools in relation to affordability of parents.
“Every increase of fees must be approved by the ministry;
the approving committee goes through every request put by all schools. We look
at affordability from parents mainly focusing on civil servants pay checks and
we act without compromising the education system in terms of its quality,” he
said.
The online platform e-map, said Mr Mhike, is now fully
functional with the grade seven results on e-map from Monday so secondary heads
could start doing their selection of candidates.
He also said there was much work to be done in order to
increase the pass rate in future.
“As ministry, we have a lot of work in terms of our
infrastructural development, although other stakeholders like UNICEF are
helping,” he said. Herald
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