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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
THE Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) 2016 Grade Seven results are out, showing a national pass rate of 42, 9 percent, up by 1,29 percent on the 2015 performance.

For the first time Zimsec also announced results for special needs pupils who sat for examinations.

Zimsec director, Mr Esau Nhandara yesterday advised examination centre heads to collect the results from Zimsec regional offices.

“The 2016 national pass rate stands at 42, 90 percent reflecting an increase of 1, 29 percent as compared to 41, 61 percent recorded in 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,” said Mr Nhandara.

He said there is a remarkable improvement in the performance of the candidates since 2010.

“Candidature increased from 303 978 in 2010 to 329 549 in 2016 whilst the pass rate increased from 25 percent in 2010 to 42, 9 percent in 2016.  This may suggest that there is marked improvement in the quality of education in Zimbabwean primary schools over the years,” said the director.

Mr Nhandara said the candidates performed well, especially in indigenous languages compared to Mathematics, General Paper and English Language.

“The pass rates in English, Mathematics and General Paper which are 56,43 percent , 56,47 percent and 47,96 2 percent respectively for 2016 may be a result of learning the subjects in a second language which is used as the language of instruction,” he said.

The highest pass rate was recorded in Shona with 86,31 percent and the least in Tshivenda with 72, 2 percent.

According to the statistics, female candidates who wrote four subjects performed better than their male counterparts.

The pass rate for female candidates is 45, 29 percent compared to 40,43 percent for the male candidates.

The three special needs categories analysed were Braille candidates, enlarged print candidates and candidates with hearing impairment.

Braille candidates registered the highest pass rate among the three categories under special needs.

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

Statistics show that 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, showing a slight increase of 332 candidates which translates to 0, 1 percent.

“Out of the 329 549 candidates who sat for the Grade Seven November 2016 Examinations, 167 333 (50,78 percent) were female and 162 183 (49,21percent ) were male and these statistics indicate that there is gender equity in the number of candidates sitting for Grade 7 Examinations in Zimbabwe”.

Mr Nhandara said although candidature for the rest of indigenous languages was still very low, Shona had the highest of 269 339 with Kalanga recording the least candidature of 602.

Mr Nhandara thanked all the stakeholders who contributed to the successful running of the examinations.