RESULTS from last year’s O Level examinations show a slight improvement in the pass rate, with male candidates doing better than their female counterparts, acting Primary and Secondary Education minister Sithembiso Nyoni said yesterday.
BY MUNESU NYAKUDYA
Nyoni, officially announcing last year’s results, said 29,96 % of school candidates who sat for the 2016 to 2017 examinations obtained grade C or better in five or more subjects.
Nyoni said some 155 492 candidates sat for the examinations and of these 46 587 managed to get credits, a 2,10% increase from the class of 2015-2016.
“These improvements are in line with the ministry’s thrust in the teaching of science, technology, arts, engineering and mathematics (Stem) (sic),” she said in her speech.
Nyoni said the results revealed a notable improvement in pass rates for learning areas such as Integrated Science, Human and Social Biology, Geography and Arts subjects such as Sociology, History and Tonga.
“The results were quite unique, as some candidates sat for 15, 16 and 17 subjects and obtained straight As.
“Unlike the A Level results, male candidates performed better than their female counterparts and the difference in all areas was significant across the learning areas,” she said.
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University of Zimbabwe vice-chancellor, Levi Nyagura said the overall picture was that Zimbabwe had recovered from the slump of 2007 to 2009, during which the education sector was not spared by the debilitating economic, social and political upheaval. He called for more resources to be channelled towards education.
“We are not doing well to support the schools for people living with disabilities, there is much that can be done,” he said. He pointed out that a paltry 148 students living with disabilities would find their way to universities out of the 16 500 who sat for O Level last year.
