Poor exam results in Luwingu worries govt

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—Government says the examination results for 2012 grades seven, nine and twelve were not impressive but also embarrassing to the Luwingu district in the Northern Province as a whole.

 

Luwingu District Commissioner, Mambwe Katontoka, said this during the official opening of a two-day head teachers’ association meeting held at Don Bosco Primary School in the   aimed at ironing out problems affecting education regarding handling of final examinations.

 

Mrs Katontoka said the record of examination results at all levels were terribly poor and humiliating to the district for a good number of years.

 

She cited the grade 12 results at the only secondary school as pathetic and that they came third from the last and only managed to beat Chilubi and Mporokoso Secondary Schools in the province.

 

Mrs Katontoka said Luwingu Secondary School is defined as one of the schools that are pulling down the province according to the reports reaching her office.

 

“This is very sad. On the other hand, grades seven and nine came out number seven at provincial level. This is unacceptable. Does it mean other districts have better teachers and facilities than we do? The answer is definitely no,” she lamented.

 

She wondered whether the district has no better teachers and facilities as compared to other districts where examinations were extremely good and impressive.

 

Mrs Katontoka said the country is developing at a fast rate and requires highly educated human resources to drive the wheels of development, adding that the PF government will not tolerant a casual approach to work.

 

She further said the education sector has a responsibility to educate and transform the communities in order to change the social welfare of the greater majority of the people in the areas.

 

Mrs Katontoka expressed concern about the reports reaching her office from the community that head teachers and their staff are rarely found at their respective schools and instead spend their time loitering in the township.

 

She said that leaving pupils at school unattended to was against the PF manifesto and detrimental to the development of the school going children.

 

The visibly annoyed Mrs Katontoka warned that government will not take kindly any teacher found loitering in the township without permission and warned that such teachers will be dealt with severely.

 

“If there are teachers who do not want to work, there are many unemployed teachers who can do wonders and change the current state of affairs,” she warned.

And speaking earlier, District Education Board Secretary (DEBS), Charity Lungu, said the head teachers’ association was called to address the poor examination results for grades seven, nine and twelve which have brought embarrassment to the district.

 

Ms Lungu observed that the academic performance of pupils has not been good because of the number of challenges such as teacher absenteeism and, in some cases, inadequate teaching and learning materials.

 

She also lamented that pupils’ enrolment and attendance have been affected due to early marriages, economic setbacks and negative attitude towards education by many families.

 

Ms Lungu said the issue of early marriages and negative attitude towards education in some parts of Luwingu district was affecting the education sector and appealed to the district administration to embark on awareness campaign on the importance of education.

 

She, however, appreciated the support coming from the PF government towards the education sector by deploying new teachers in schools that are adversely affected by poor staffing levels.

 

Ms Lungu further said the construction of Lupososhi Secondary School has reached an advanced level, saying the new institution will decongest the only secondary in the district.

 

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