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Abigail Mawonde, Harare Bureau
GIRLS performed better than boys in this year’s Grade 7 Zimbabwe School Examinations Council examinations whose results were released on Wednesday.

Zimsec director Mr Esau Nhandara said the pass rate for female candidates in the November examinations was almost  five percent higher than that of their male counterparts.

“According to the statistics, female candidates who wrote four subjects performed better than their male counterparts. The pass rate for girls is 45, 29 percent compared to 40,43 percent for the boys,” he said.

Mr Nhandara said there was an increase in the number of candidates this year compared to the previous year.

“The total number of candidates who registered for the Grade Seven November 2016 Examinations was 329 549 compared to the 2015 entry of 329 217.

“There was a slight increase of 332 candidates which translates to 0,1 percent. Out of the 329 549 candidates who sat for the Grade 7 November 2016 Examinations, 167 333 (50,78 percent) were girls and 162 183 (49,21 percent) were boys and these statistics indicate that there is gender equity in the number of candidates sitting for Grade Seven Examinations in Zimbabwe,” he said.

According to the statement, the 2016 national pass rate stands at 42, 90 percent reflecting an increase of 1,29 percent compared to 41, 61 percent recorded in year 2015.

The national pass rate for school candidates is 43 percent, which shows a slight increase of about 1,18 percent from the 2015 national pass rate of 41,82 percent.

Mr Nhandara said high pass rates had been recorded in indigenous languages compared to Mathematics, General Paper and English Language, with Shona having the highest candidature of 269 339 candidates, and Kalanga having the least, 602 candidates.

This year, the examination board produced statistics for special needs candidates.

Mr Nhandara said he was happy that for the first time this year the examination board had managed to produce statistics for special needs candidates who sat for the Grade Seven national examinations.

Three categories were analysed; Braille candidates, Enlarged Print candidates and candidates with Hearing Impairment.

The performance of Braille candidates was better than that of candidates with hearing impairment and those needing enlarged print.

Pass rate for Braille candidates stands at 80 percent while that of candidates with enlarged print and hard of hearing is at 67,80 percent and 31,76 percent, respectively.

Mr Nhandara added: “Generally, there are more female than male candidates who were examined this year in all subjects. Female candidates outperformed their male counterparts in all subject areas.”