110,739 pupils make it to G10

A TOTAL of 110,739 pupils out of 285,636 who sat for Grade nine examinations in 2013 have passed to Grade 10.
The results indicate a progression rate of 37.10 per cent.
They also represent an increase in the progression rate by 2.45 percentage points on the 34.65 per cent progression rate for 2012.
Of the 110,739 successful pupils, 57,327 were boys while 53,412 were girls.
The results show that 174,899 candidates failed the examinations compared to 191,000 the previous year.
Eastern, Southern, Central and Luapula Provinces recorded higher failure rates than the national failure rate at 6.99 per cent.
Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education Minister John Phiri announced the results in Lusaka yesterday.
Dr Phiri said the highest progression rate in the 2013 examinations was recorded in North-Western Province at 63.68 per cent, followed by the Copperbelt Province at 45.73 per cent. Western Province was third with a progression rate of 43.47 per cent.
Northern and Southern provinces had the lowest progression rates at 30.50 per cent and 30.86 per cent, respectively.
“Although we have improved the progression rate, there is still a crisis,” Dr Phiri said.
The overall statistics indicated that girls had a higher progression rate at 37.51 per cent against the 36.72 per cent for the boys.
Dr Phiri said the proportion of candidates who obtained full grade 9 certificates increased from 51.49 per cent in 2012 to 54.89 per cent in 2013, with North-Western, Western, Copperbelt and Lusaka provinces recording higher proportions than the national rate of 54.89 per cent.
Southern, Eastern, Northern, Luapula and Muchinga provinces had less than 50 per cent.
Dr Phiri said of the total 2,621 schools operating as examination centres, the results analysis showed that private schools had the highest performance followed by grant-aided schools.
Community schools from the results analysis were third while Government schools were the least with a mean performance below the national mean, a trend similar to that recorded during the 2013 grade seven composite examination results.
He said 67,807 candidates were absent from the examinations, with 34,073 being boys while 33,734 were girls, representing an increase in absenteeism rates from 15.74 per cent in 2012 to 19.18 per cent in 2013.
All the provinces, he said, recorded an increase in absenteeism rates apart from Muchinga which remained constant at 20.23 per cent.
Central Province recorded the highest absenteeism rate at 28.63 per cent, with the lowest being Copperbelt Province at 12.81 per cent.
Dr Phiri directed all provincial education officers to inform head teachers against enrolling underage children at grade one level as they risked losing their examination centre status if they ignored his warning.
He said 253 cases of examination malpractices were reported, representing 0.09 per cent of candidates who wrote the examinations.
Examinations Council of Zambia director Michael Chilala attributed the reduced number of candidates who sat for the 2013 examinations to increased absenteeism.
The ministry had set January 27, 2014 as the date for grade 10 classes to open, but Dr Phiri said a grace period of up to February 10 had been granted.

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