Nampota
The Malawi National Examinations Board (Maneb) Tuesday released results of this year’s Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) and Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) examinations, with a mixed picture in terms of pass rates.
While the pass rate in PSLCE examinations has significantly improved from 83.24 percent last year to 87.77 percent this year, the rate in JCE examinations has marginally dropped, from 73.07 percent last year to 72.65 percent this year.
Presenting results of the national examinations in Lilongwe on Tuesday, Maneb Executive Secretary Dorothy Nampota said out of 267,330 candidates who sat PSLCE examinations this year, 234,645 have passed.
This, in other words, means that 32,685 learners have failed to get a PSLCE certificate.
Nampota further said out of 168,219 candidates who sat this year’s JCE examinations, about 122,219 have passed.
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This, therefore, means that 46,000 students have failed to Jump Carefully, as JC is widely put in many circles.
According to Nampota, Nkhata Bay leads the best performing districts in PSLCE examinations at 97.09 percent, followed by Zomba Urban, Rumphi, Mzuzu City, Phalombe, Likoma, Zomba Rural, Mulanje, Dedza and Thyolo.
On the other hand, Dowa leads the list of poorly performing districts in PSLCE examinations, followed by Nsanje, Salima, Mangochi, Blantyre City, Neno, Chiradzulu, Balaka Nkhotakota and Ntcheu.
Alinafe Chulu, a female student from Playdor Private Primary School in Blantyre, has emerged as the overall best student while Henderson Levison of Nampeya Primary School in Machinga has emerged as the top male student.
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A total of 96,112 students have been selected to start form one in public secondary schools, representing 40.96 percent of those who have passed.
This means that 138,533 students will either have to go to private schools or repeat standard eight.
Education Minister Madalitso Kambauwa Wirima said her ministry is happy with the results of the two examinations.
Among other things, Kambauwa Wirima said the examinations were administered under tough conditions when other districts were recovering from the devastating effects of Tropical Cyclone Freddy.
Kambauwa Wirima described the PSLCE performance as a new record which, she said, surpasses the 85 percent target set for 2025 in the National Education Sector Investment Plan.
“We are very happy with the results,” she said.
Civil Society Education Coalition Executive Director Benedicto Kondowe said while there is remarkable progress in PSLCE examination results, there is stagnation on the part of JCE.
Kondowe also expressed concern over the huge number of learners that have been left out of secondary schools.
According to Kondowe, the learners that have been left out would have to go to private schools or repeat standard 8.
“This leads to high school dropouts as only a small percentage of the learners can afford to go to private schools.
“Most of them are advanced in age and just opt to drop out of school,” Kondowe said.
He expressed hope that the United States government-supported project aimed at constructing 250 secondary schools across the country may help improve the situation.
Commenting on the concern, Kambauwa Wirima said government is doing everything possible to improve the availability of space in secondary schools so that as many deserving students as possible could go to secondary school.
She said, this year, government has added about 44 secondary schools.
