RESULTS of candidates who last month sat for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) are encouraging as they show an impressive improvement on what they obtained in their earlier attempts.
According to the results, which were announced yesterday by Education Minister John Phiri, 12,657 candidates out of 16,344 who wrote the first-ever mid-year examinations did quite well.
In terms of percentage pass rate, this is just slightly below 80 per cent, and is a big achievement by the learners who in their previous examinations obviously did not fare so well.
Some of these candidates may have been studying on their own. However, it is clear that majority of them, especially those who this time around managed to obtain their GCE certificates did so with the help of teachers during private tuitions.
We salute these candidates for the job well-done, as well as their parents, guardians and spouses who encouraged them to ‘go back to school’ and ensured that the tuition fees they forked out in the end turned out to be worthwhile.
But even much more plaudits should go to the teachers who, like in the past, proved that they had an important role to play in ensuring that candidates who re-wrote the GCE examinations passed.
Our teachers should surely be commended because this is not the only mark they have scored highly, but are even much more important in bringing up a generation of educated young people, who are the backbone of national development.
Indeed, one often-repeated mantra in Zambia is that children are the future leaders, meaning that young persons, particularly school pupils, are some of the most important aspects of society.
Be they in primary or secondary school, this crop of the youngest generation represents the future, as well as direction that the Zambian society will take.
To do this, learners need proper guidance from an early age not just from their parents or guardians but, most importantly, from their school teachers.
It is clear that teachers are able to enrich a young generation of children and anyone who wishes to advance his/her education so that their future can be a safe, secure and great place to live in for every person in society.
This means, therefore, that teachers are an extremely important facet of the Zambian society because they are the ones who educate the people who in turn become the leaders of the next generation.
Teachers are the ones who teach pupils and impart knowledge upon them such that what they learn, especially at a young age, will most likely stay with them for the rest of their lives.
So, teachers certainly leave a significant mark on the development of young persons, and even older ones and mature learners alike, as they teach and help them develop their knowledge so that they can go on in life and be responsible and productive members of society.
That’s how grooming a responsible generation that is capable of developing the country must be. Of course in this process, learners, especially young persons, have also a role to play.
Young learners must, for instance, realise the value of learning because education does a great service not only to the learners themselves, but also to society in general.
The more people want to learn and be determined to pass their examinations, the better the Zambian society will develop.
We, therefore, salute those who decided to better their examination results in June this year because they truly achieved their goal.  OPINION