Half through in latest primary school exams

National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) acting Executive Secretary, Dr Charles Msonde briefs journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday on results of this year’s Standard Seven national examination results. PHOTO | emmanuel herman
 ar es Salaam. Half of the pupils who sat this year’s primary school examinations have passed, and will presumably proceed to secondary school, according to results announced yesterday.

The results, released by the National Examinations Council (Necta), show a significant improvement in student performance, being a 19.89 per cent improvement from 30.72 per cent last year.

Necta Acting Executive Secretary Dr Charles Msonde said 427, 606 out of 844,938 candidates who sat the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) scored above 100 out of the 250 mark set by the examinations coordination body.

This means that 50.61 per cent candidates scored well above the 100 mark and will be selected to join public secondary schools.

Of the 427,606 candidates who scored 100 and above marks, 208,227 (46.68 per cent) are females while 219,379 (55.01 per cent) are males.

Going by the Necta statistics, the 427, 606 students who passed got between grade A and C while the rest of the 417, 332 pupils scrambled for grade D and E.

Some 867,983 pupils were registered to sit the exams which for the second time were written on Optical Mark Reader (OMR), an electronic system rolled out by Necta to speed up the marking process and ensure accuracy.

Dr Msonde said 23,045 (2.66 per cent) of the registered candidates did not sit the final examinations owing to various reasons, including diseases and truancy.

Some 13, 264 (3.22 per cent of all candidates) males did not sit the examination while girls made up 2.15 per cent, about 9,781 of the candidates.

The council also nullified results of 13 pupils who cheated. Last year, results of 293 candidates were nullified on similar grounds.

Dr Msonde attributed the fall in the cheating rate to the use of computerized system in marking examinations.

The government introduced OMR last year with a view of cutting down costs associated with managing national examinations, and increasing accuracy and efficiency in the marking of examinations in the country.