Rumbidzai Ngwenya
THE Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) has finally released the 2021 Advanced Level results showing a 3,68 percent increase in pass rate from last year despite the Covid-19 induced disruption of the school calendar.
Officially announcing the results in Harare yesterday, Zimsec chairperson Eddie Mwenje, said the pass rate was 84,67 percent as compared to 80,98 percent recorded in 2020.
“There was a decrease of 2,03 percent in the candidate entries where the total number of candidates who sat for the November 2021 examinations was 49 128, as compared to 50 287 in November 2020.
“Of these, 48 234 wrote two or more subjects compared to 49 153 last year. For those who wrote two or more subjects, 40 842 obtained Grade E or better. This translates to 84.67 percent pass rate.
“In November 2020 however, 49 153 wrote two or more subjects and 39 802 obtained Grade E or better in two or more subjects translating to a percentage pass rate of 80.98. The national pass rate for 2021, therefore, increased by 3,68 percent,” Mwenje said.
According to Zimsec, heads of examination centres would be able to collect the results for their respective schools or centres from regional offices starting today.
He also said the results were accessible online to all candidates and authorised personnel with effect from yesterday.
Mwenje also revealed that girls who sat for last year’s examinations had out-shined boys.
“The total number of female school candidates who sat for two or more subjects in November 2021 Advanced Level examinations was 20 262. Of this number, 18 043 passed two or more subjects yielding 89,04 percent pass rate; an increase of 3,24 percentage points from 85,8 percent for 2020.
“The total number of male school candidates who sat for two or more subjects were 20 337 and 17 233 passed two or more subjects, which translates to 84,72 percent, an increase of 4,61 percentage points from 80,31 percent for 2020,” he said.
The examinations body also added that public schools had recorded a higher pass rate as compared to private candidates.
“In November 2021, the total number of private candidates was 8 322. Of these, 7 725, wrote two or more subjects and 5 566 obtained a Grade E or better, which translated to a percentage pass rate of 72,05 percent, while in November 2020, the total number of private candidates was 8 056.
“Out of this number, 7 462 wrote two or more subjects and 5 205 obtained a Grade E or better, which also translated into a percentage pass rate of 69,75 percent.”
Regarding special needs students, Mwenje said a 96,42 pass rate had been recorded for Enlarged Print, Braille, Hearing Impairment and Physical Impairment.
Meanwhile the council said this year’s results had come in early amid critics that the council had failed to release results in time.
“The examination process ended on January 31 and after two months, the results are here.
“We are, therefore, excited that we are releasing the results earlier than was the case for the 2020 results by at least three weeks.
“We are also grateful to God that as we continue to see an improvement in the Covid- 19 pandemic situation, it may point to the fact that we may soon return to normalcy.”