2023 grade seven exam results out, pass rate still below 50 percent

Harare (New Ziana)-Results of the 2023 Grade Seven examinations are out and show that 45.57 percent of the learners who sat for the tests passed, up from 40.09 last year.

Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) board chair Prof Eddie Mwenje announced the release of the results on Friday morning, saying they would be open online from 1500 hours while schools could start collecting from their respective regional offices on Monday.

Mwenje said although the pass rate remained below 50 percent, it was a marked improvement from 40.09 percent attained in 2022.

“The 2023 Grade 7 examinations recorded a national pass rate of 45.57 percent. This is an increase of 5.48 percent in candidates performance from last year’s pass rate of 40.09 percent. The increase in pass rate could be attributed to the return to the normal school calendar after the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and also various interventions by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in terms of teaching and learning,” he said.

He said a total of 372 603 candidates sat for one to six subjects during the 2023 Grade 7 examinations compared to 343 169 in 2022, showing a 7.89 percent increase in candidature.

Out of the 372 603 candidates who sat for the 2023 grade 7 examination, 193 520 were females while 179 083 were males. The pass rate for female candidates was 49.56 percent compared to 41.21 for male candidates.

“A total of 357 special needs candidates sat for a range of subjects from 5 to 6. Of these, 194 wrote 6 subjects and 113 with hard of hearing sat for 5 subjects yielding an overall average pass rate of 42.99 percent for all learners with special needs. In 2022 the pass rate was 29.8 percent and there were 323 candidates,” said Mwenje.

Primary and Secondary Education permanent secretary Moses Mhike said the pass rate remains depressed because most of the learners reach Grade Two without being able to read and write.

“According to a survey we conducted, the majority of the learners cannot read and write at Grade Two. They cannot comprehend the simple and straightforward issues, it means as they face a Grade 7 examination, therefore means most of them will not be able to comprehend and answer those papers. As a Ministry, this is where we need to concentrate on,” he said.

New Ziana