School pass mark lowered

NAMIBIA has lowered the minimum promotion requirement for grades 1 to 9 by 5% in response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on teaching and learning.

Executive director Sanet Steenkamp said on Thursday that the National Examinations, Assessment and Certification Board resolved month to relax the pass mark for learners in grades1 to 9 from 40% to 35% for the 2020 academic year only.

The new promotion requirements are applicable to government and private schools that are registered with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture and which offer the Namibian curriculum.

According to the statement, the new curriculum intends to provide the standard for learning progression without repetition during the Grade 1 to Grade 9 years of schooling.

A learner may only repeat twice in junior primary phase, twice in the senior primary and once in junior secondary phase. Learners who do not progress to the next grade must receive counselling to help them understand their situation and must receive learning support focusing on the competencies or objectives which they did not achieve.

All schools closed on March 16 following the confirmation of the first Covid-19 cases in the country. Namibia adopted a phased approach to restart face-to-face classroom teaching. Grades 11 and 12 resumed on June 3.

The Grade 3 learners were expected to report to school on June 22. Phase three would be Grades 7 and 9 on July 6. The remaining grades would return on July 20.

The academic year was planned to end on December 18.