Sinokubonga Nkala
Robin Muchetu, Sunday News Reporter
BULAWAYO Province has continued with its good performance in the Grade Seven examinations with the 2024 results reflecting an impressive 80,14 percent pass rate.
This year, 13 schools achieved a perfect 100 percent pass rate, and notably, no school recorded a zero percent pass rate.
Among the top-performing schools in the city were Dominican Convent, Coghlan, Fairview, The Pillar, Kumalo, ZRP Ross Camp, Amazon, Centenary, Maranatha, Queen Elizabeth SDA, Charlestone, Ezekiel Guti, and Sibanesezwe Primary Schools.
Dominican Convent, Fairview, ZRP Ross Camp, Amazon, Queen Elizabeth SDA, Charlestone, and Sibanesezwe successfully maintained their streak of 100 percent pass rates from 2023. In contrast, the province’s overall pass rate last year was 79,60 percent, with one school, Tsetse Primary School in Khami District, recording a zero percent pass rate.
In a preliminary results analysis for the 2024 Grade Seven results the Director Education Services, Mr Lawrence Mkwala, who is the acting Provincial Education Director (PED) for Bulawayo Province said the province is working on ensuring that the zero percent phenomenon is eradicated forthwith in the province.
“We want to intensify both internal and external supervision of learners to ensure they continue recording good grades. The province has a total of 139 primary schools within its catchment and the reasons for success to achieve desired results is intensified supervision and also adequate staffing of teachers,” he said.
The province, however, wants to continue on an upward trend of improving the pass rate and will ensure that they hold district mid-year and end-of-year tests for the learners.
In 2024, Mangwabi, Hyde Park, Hope Fountain, White Stone, Aiselby, St Peters and Redbank, were the least performing schools in the province, getting a pass rate of below 50 percent, with the least, Redbank having 20 percent.
The acting PED announced that the 2024 examinations saw an increase in candidates, with a total of 13 627 learners taking the examination- 8 210 girls and 8 794 boys.
In comparison, 12 820 candidates sat for the Grade Seven examination in 2023, comprising 7 645 boys and 8 461 girls.
The bottom 10 performers in the province last year included Whitestone, St Peters, Mangwabi, Mbuyazwe, Mthombothema, Redbank, Aiselby, Mvutho, Mbonqane, and Tsetse Primary Schools. Tsetse recorded a zero percent pass rate, while five other schools achieved pass rates of less than 50 percent.
Mr Nkwala revealed that to increase learner performance in 2025, they will capacitate infant teachers on teaching and reading by scaling up the uptake of Teaching Handwriting, Reading and Spellings Skills (THRASS) in schools.
The THRASS programme helps learners to say the right sounds when they read and choose the right letters when they spell. It is also helpful for pre-school learners, gifted and talented learners who require special education such as those with hearing impairments, autistic children, those with Downs Syndrome and dyslexic.
Mr Mkwala said the province will also hold workshops to further capacitate Grade Seven teachers with various skills and also increase supervision too.
The learners will also benefit from internal remediation at all levels in a bid to boost their grades and be able to score high grades in their final examinations.
Bulawayo Province has been making concerted efforts to improve its Grade Seven examination pass rates, especially in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, which significantly impacted the education system nationwide.
In 2020, the province recorded a pass rate of 67,4 percent, which was followed by improvements to 77,6 percent in 2021 and 71 percent in 2022. The pass rate then jumped to 79,6 percent in 2023 and reached 80,14 percent in 2024, marking a significant upward trend despite the setbacks caused by the pandemic.
The province’s consistent efforts to enhance educational outcomes have paid off, as evidenced by the steady increase in pass rates over the past few years.
This progress underscores the province’s commitment to providing quality education and ensuring students are well-prepared for the next stage of their academic journey. — @NyembeziMu
Online Reporter
