IN the second edition of this column following its renaissance, I featured an article concerning the performance of pupils who sat for the 2013 Grade seven examinations and qualified to grade eight.

I noted that 279, 186 pupils out of 312, 433 candidates who sat for the Grade seven composite examinations in 2013 had qualified to Grade eight, representing a pass rate of 89.36 per cent.

The excellent pass rate recorded at Grade seven level reinvigorated renewed hope that the country’s education standards were improving gradually and I did stress in the article that this should also translate to grades nine and twelve.

Recently, Education Minister John Phiri disclosed that 110, 739 out 285, 636 pupils who sat for their junior secondary school leaving examinations at grade nine in 2013 have qualified to grade ten, representing a progression rate of 37.10 per cent.

Out of the 110, 739 successful pupils, 57,327 were boys while 53, 412 were girls and the results show that 174, 897 candidates failed the examinations compared to 191,000 in 2012.

Upon hearing of these results, the first observation I made was that more than half of the candidates who sat for the Grade nine examinations flopped and this is catastrophic.

If anything is to go by last year’s Grade nine results were poor and Government and concerned stakeholders should probe the reason why the country has recorded less than 50 per cent pass rate at such a crucial level in education.

In looking at some of the causes that could be attributed to these low results, it became apparent to me how poor the reading culture among Zambian youths has really become low.

The young people of nowadays have been overtaken by technology and current affairs in the cyber world resultantly spending less time on studying their school material.

Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube, Digital Satellite Television (DSTV); name them; are the order of the day for the young people now especially those in urban areas.

This is not right and from the household level, parents and guardians must take a stance to cartel the amount of time that their children are spending with gadgets such as cellular phones and on the television set.

It’s very inappropriate for a child in an examination class or indeed in school to spend more than the uncensored hours of a day browsing the internet or watching television.

In most cases sadly; it is the parents themselves who are encouraging this attitude among the young people as they are the ones buying smart phones for their children to be on the internet all the time.

Parents also allow the children unlimited access to the television remote control even when they are fully aware that the person is in an examination class.

There should be control; yes the world has become a global village but Facebook, Twitter or Channel-O; will not provide any answers to a Mathematics or English language final examination paper.

If unfortunately, this is how the young people are going to be groomed academically, then our country is headed for a blique future because the nation’s leaders for tomorrow are on a totally different and wrong path.

Our parents and grandparents would always motivate us by narrating how in their time, they would be in school from morning till early afternoon and after class, spend long hours studying and preparing for examinations even in prior grades.

This is the kind of culture that needs to be resurrected among the youth today; yes the world was old fashioned technology wise those days but there is no recourse, our reading culture must improve.

Some pupils are still passing examinations today on the basis of hard work, doing away with the cyber world and merely focussing on their studies.

I also feel there is need to harness the teacher-pupil-parent chain of communication to improve the quality of learning in Zambia.

The teacher is the child’s parent during school hours and they too, should be interested to know the pupil’s lifestyle in and away from class.

It is a well known fact that in some private schools, pupils are permitted to carry gadgets like cellular phones and walkman to school and these are utilised even during learning hours.

So if the teacher views this to be right; then what will make the parent think otherwise?

This is not just right because the purpose of school is to learn as education is the only key to success especially in the Zambian setup.

Therefore, parents and teachers must keep collaborate so that the pupil is monitored both at home and school for the betterment of their academics.

Government also needs to provide adequate learning materials for public schools which often have more pupils in attendance.

It is disheartening that a class of fifty pupils only have five text books of civics for instance to share amongst themselves during a session.

On this platform again as stated before and I reiterate that there is an urgent need to reduce the teacher: pupil ratio.

If the pupils in Government schools are to perform to desired expectations, the teacher: pupil ratio must be harmonised to at least 1:40 opposed to the current 1: 80 in some public learning institutions.

Well, now we all await the announcement of the grade 12 results and it is my hope that this time around, the performance will be better.

Last year, 60, 318 out of 103, 853 candidates who sat for the 2012 Grade twelve examinations obtained full certificates.

From the same, 41, 307 candidates obtained General Certificates of Education, while 2,227 completely failed the examinations.

There will be not excuse not to record a better performance than this because prior to the examinations, the necessary measures for improvement were already in place.

Government did its part by increasing the teacher remuneration by 100 per cent.

The Examination Council of Zambia (ECZ) ensured reduced cases of leakages and any deterring forces, and so only the best should be expected.

It’s all fingers crossed!

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