–The Secondary Schools Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) has expressed happiness with the improved performance by Grade Nine pupils who sat for examinations last year.
The 2013 Grade Nine results that were released in Lusaka yesterday by Education Minister, John Phiri, reflected an improvement in performance with 110, 739 pupils being selected to Grade Ten.
SESTUZ Deputy General Secretary, Emmanuel Zulu, however says there is need to further improve the pass rate as the majority of the pupils who sat for the examinations failed to make it to Grade Ten.
Mr Zulu said from the current statistics, most of the pupils who sat for the Grade Nine examinations last year failed to make it to Grade Ten.
He told ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today that the low pass rate would be attributed to the teacher-pupil ratio because of over enrolment especially in public schools.
Mr Zulu said it is difficult for teachers to give maximum attention to the pupils because there are so many of them in one class.
He said this is why pupils at private schools tend to do better than their counterparts in public schools because teachers at private schools are able to give maximum attention to the pupils because they are few.
Mr Zulu was reacting to the Grade Nine results which were released by the Ministry of Education in Lusaka yesterday.