Grade 7 Pass Rate Falls... Girls Outperform Boys
The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) is yet to establish why the Grade Seven pass rate in 2022 was lower than that recorded in 2021 considering that there were far fewer disruptions.
In 2020 and 2021, learning was disrupted by several COVID-19-induced lockdowns while in 2022, learning activities were back to normal apart from some delays during the first term.
ZIMSEC on Wednesday released the Grade 7 results, with a 40. 09 percent pass rate, marginally below the 41.13 per cent pas rate of last year.
Girls, with a 43.66 percent pass rate, did a lot better than boys who had a 3622 per cent pass rate.
Speaking in Harare on Wednesday after the announcement of the 2022 Grade Seven public examination results, ZIMSEC board chair Professor Eddie Mwenje said:
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 Lazarus Nembaware said continuous assessment learning activity (CALA) could be one of the factors. He said:
It could be other reasons, which we will look into but as of now, we also think that candidates are still settling 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.
ZIMSEC said it recorded a higher number of candidates writing the exam than did so last year. It said:
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.
ZIMSEC also advised that the collection of results from regional offices will start this Thursday while the online viewing platform was activated on Wednesday. | The Herald
