. Dr Phiri

By HELLEN TEMBO –
A TOTAL of 71,702 candidates out of 125,656 who sat for the Examinations Council of Zambia grade 12 examinations in 2015 have obtained school certificates.
The result represents an increase in the number of students that obtained certificates by 1.18 per cent as compared to those who sat for the exams in 2014.
Of the successful pupils, 30,750 are girls and 40,952 are boys.
The results show that 4,652 failed the examinations, representing a 3.7 per cent of the total number of candidates.
Last year, 119,862 candidates sat for the examinations and 60,318 passed.
This year, Eastern Province recorded the highest school certificates pass rate at 71 per cent, followed by Southern at 69.65 per cent and Muchinga (63.64 per cent).
General Education Minister John Phiri announced the results in Lusaka yesterday.
Dr Phiri said all the provinces except for North-Western recorded an increase in the proportion of candidates obtaining school certificates.
“I have noted that the movement of more candidates from the General Certificate of Education to the School Certificate category denotes an improvement in the quality of passes obtained by candidates in 2015 over 2014,” Dr Phiri said.
He said out of 454 schools that presented their candidates for examinations, 45 recorded 100 per cent school certificate pass rate.
Dr Phiri said to continue improving learner performance in all schools, his ministry was implementing the ‘Catch-up Programme’ which aimed at providing remedial lessons to learners that found difficulties in learning.
The minister said during the 2015 examinations, 33 cases of suspected examination malpractices were reported, 30 of which involved individuals and three the entire centre.
The results for the affected candidates and centres have since been withheld pending resolution by the ECZ.