16, 396 pupils fail Grade 9 exams

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Mabumba High day school,
Many children live a long way from school and prefer to rent accommodation nearby. Grade 12 pupil Dorcas, 17, stopped attending the Mabumba High day school, about 20km east of provincial capital Mansa, after becoming pregnant. She said: “We were staying the three of us [girls], then we started sharing the house with three guys and that is how we paired ourselves. We just wanted some form of emotional support; life is really tough out there. So, the whole of last year we were living together with the guys and would have [unprotected] sex almost every night but everything was OK.” ~ Dorcas. Photo Credit - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

A total of 169, 375 candidates that sat for the 2014 Grade 9 Examinations have been selected to Grade 10.

Out of the 169, 375 pupils who have made it to grade 10, 90, 788 were boys and 78, 587 were girls.

114, 104 pupils have only managed to obtain statements of results while a total of 16, 396 pupils failed the exams.

This is from the 299, 875 pupils that wrote the exams out of the 357, 985 boys and girls that entered for the exams.

 

Speaking this morning at a media briefing in Lusaka when he announcement the results, Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education Minister John Phiri described the 2014 grade 9 exams results as better but that there is still more that needs to be done.

And Dr. Phiri has attributed the increase in the number of candidates sitting for the grade 9 exams to the creation and expansion of classroom space arising from infrastructure development and upgrading of Basic schools in the country.

He has also attributed this to the holding of annual performance review at national, provincial and district levels since 2013.

Dr. Phiri notes that the other factor is the implementation of the provincial Learner Improvement strategy in all provinces.

He says he is particularly pleased that during the 2014 Grade nine exams there was a reduction in candidate absenteeism rates from 19.18 percent in 2013 to 16 .23 percent in 2014.

Dr. Phiri has also expressed happiness that the 2014 grade 9 exams have recorded a decrease in exam malpractices from 268 in 2013 to 132 in 2014.

 

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