By STEVEN ZANDE –
THE National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQUEZ) has praised the Government for releasing grade 12 results on time and has called for more support to technical schools to help produce more skilled school leavers to strengthen Zambia’s human resource base.
General Education Minister Dennis Wanchinga on Friday announced that the number of pupils who obtained school certificates in the 2017 grade 12 examination session increased to 64.84 per cent from 61.94 per cent in 2016, representing a 2.9 increase, with technical schools topping the slot.
NAQUEZ executive director Aaron Chansa said the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ) and the Ministry of General Education had done well to announce the results as this would enable parents and guardians to enrol school leavers for study programmes.
“The 2.9 per cent increase in the pass rate is very good and promising,” Mr Chansa said.
He said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that teachers should also be commended.
Mr Chansa said it was encouraging that technical schools whose performance had dwindled in the recent past were now beginning to record good grades compared to grant-aided and private schools.
He said grant-aided and public schools should learn from the good performance of technical schools to improve their performance for the country to achieve better results at grade 12 examinations.
He urged the Government to consider increasing funding to technical schools to ensure the learning facilities had enough equipment and infrastructure to conduct lessons effectively.
More stakeholders like the corporate world and the Church should come on board and help fund technical schools and support existing infrastructure. This would complement the Government’s efforts in providing sustainable education.
Mr Chansa said the teachers should also be motivated for them to offer effective services to the pupils for the betterment of national development.