Simatende cries foul on grade nine results

Simatende cries foul on grade nine results

Livingstone, February, 18, 2013,  ZANIS — Southern Province Education Officer Martin Simatende says  the drop in the pass rate the for grade nine pupils examination results are disappointing.

Mr. Simatende says it is disheartening that the grade nine results where low due to the re-introduction of the cut-off point for the 2013 results was due to the re-introduction of the
cut-off point , which was scrapped off during the former government.

 He noted that it is for this reason that the  general public should not attribute the drop in the number of pupils who passed to falling education standards and lack of teaching materials in schools.

“People need to understand that the drop in the pass rate is due to the re-introduction of cut-off point which was scrapped off during the MMD government,” said Mr. Samatende.

There has been countrywide concern over the 10 per cent drop in grade nine results, which many people and organizations’ attributed to falling education standards in the country.

The grade nine-examination results pass rate at national level has dropped from last year’s 44.9 to 34.6 percent with a total number of 100,824 pupils selected to grade 10 in the year 2013.