The Secretary for Primary and Secondary Education, Mrs Tumisang Thabela revealed government concern over the zero pass rates recorded by 250 primary schools in national examinations last year.
She said the Office of President and Cabinet and the Public Service Commission are concerned by the pass rates. Thabela also revealed that measures to rectify the issue. She said:
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, the OPC and PSC are concerned about low standards in infrastructure and general teaching and learning levels in satellite schools which seem to precipitate zero percent pass rates.
At Grade 7, 68 primary schools recorded zero percent pass rate in 2018 while at ‘O’ level, 194 schools had zero percent pass rate.
Thabela indicated that low pass rates could be attributed to the absence of the continuous assessment component, low infrastructure, general teaching standards and learning levels. She said:
You will notice that this was the first examination for our competence-based curriculum. ‘O’ Level pass rate was 32,6 percent, while ‘A’ Level was 84,7 percent. Pass rate at Grade 7 was 53,42 percent.
My ministry and ZIMSEC are working tirelessly to have the continuous assessment framework in place as soon as possible.
Zimbabwe’s literacy rate at 94 percent is the highest in Africa.
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