Slight drop in JCE exam results worries CSEC

Analysts are describing this year’s Junior Certificate Education-JCE exam results as unimpressive, owing to the drop in the pass rate.
The pass rate, at 73% is below last year’s 76% according to a joint statement released yesterday by Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) and the Ministry of Education.
According to a statement signed by the Executive Director Dorothy Nampota, out of the 154,495 candidates who sat for the exams, 112,897 have passed, representing a 73.07% pass rate.
Commenting on the results, Benedicto Kondowe who is Executive Director for the Civil Society Education Coalition says the drop in the pass rate, is a clear sign of the dwindling standards of education considering that JCE is not as demanding as MSCE examination.
A total of 159,964 candidates registered for the examinations, out of which 79,595 were females and 80,369 were males.
However 77,484 females and 77,011 males were the one that sat for the exam.
Of the 970 Special Needs Education (SNE) candidates who sat for this examination, 685 have passed, representing 70.62%.
A regional analysis of the performance shows that Southern region districts dominated the top ten best performing.
They are: Phalombe, Zomba urban, Mulanje, Ntchisi, Zomba Rural, Chiradzulu, Mzuzu City, Thyolo, Dedza and Machinga.
Meanwhile Kondowe is since calling on the education authorities to work on strategies towards improving the standards.