Insight into zero percent pass rate challenge
WHEN one comes across the name “Chitungwiza”, it is common to think of the town located about 24 kilometres from Harare.
But since the release of the November 2023 Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) Ordinary Level results, “Chitungwiza” is popular for all the wrong reasons.
Chitungwiza Secondary School, which is located in Makoni district, Manicaland province, was one of the schools that recorded a zero percent pass rate for learners who sat the November 2023 final exams.
The school — which has only two classroom blocks and six teachers — is found deep in the tobacco farming area of Makoni, commonly referred to as “kumaplots” (the plots).
The school is difficult to access because of a bad road network.
Interestingly, a signpost that is supposed to give directions to the school has nothing written on it.
The other schools with a zero pass rate are are: Chigora, Gowakowa, Nyamazira, Chiwome, Gwangwadza, Gwidza, Kadzunge, Mahere, Nyadzonya, Nyamazira, Nyamuronda and Tafadzwa.
Although they are not the only schools that had a poor showing across the country, these schools have become a laughing stock.
Being a learner, teacher and worse off the school head at one of these schools is tough; one becomes an object of ridicule.
Recently, The Sunday Mail visited some of these schools in Makoni district to get a better appreciation of the challenges and other factors behind the low pass rates.
Parents or guardians’ attitude
Investigations revealed that parents or guardians’ attitude towards education is one of the biggest contributing factors to the poor results.
Some parents in these communities view their children as a source of free labour.
They do not regard education as an important aspect in their children’s lives, an attitude that seems to have cascaded to the children themselves.
A staffer at Chitungwiza Secondary School, who refused to be identified, citing the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education policy, said: “The biggest challenge is our learners’ parents. They no longer value education, and at times they see farm workers in these children.”
“Once the parent has a negative attitude towards school, the same will then cascade to the children, who, in turn, do not see a reason to attend lessons.”
The staffer claimed many learners come to school once or twice a week.
“And, recurrence of the school posting poor results every year then affects others who follow. It becomes an unending cycle.”
Satellite schools
It is also notable that many of the institutions that recorded poor results are satellite schools. These are unregistered schools that are attached to established ones for administrative purposes.
Satellite schools do not have examination centres and their candidates have to travel to registered schools for them to write exams.
This, according to parents and teachers who spoke to The Sunday Mail, affects the learners mentally and physically before sitting an exam.
“There is a fear that grips learners from satellite schools whenever they visit parent schools for purposes of writing their examinations.
“That alone affects the learners heavily,” said Mr Patrick Musango, a parent.
“Sometimes these learners would have travelled a long distance to reach the parent school, rendering them tired physically and mentally. Under these circumstances, how do you expect one to pass?”
Mr Musango said his children attended Mahere Secondary School in Makoni district.
The school’s administration declined to share its side of the story with The Sunday
Mail, before referring this reporter to Rukweza Secondary School, which is the school’s parent school.
The Government, particularly under the second Republic, has been building schools in most parts of the country to ensure all school-going ages have access to education.
Need for more qualified teachers
Some areas need more qualified teachers and a reduced teacher to pupil ratio. Over the years, these have failed to attract a high number of qualified teachers because they are remote. The Government is working on ensuring that these schools are manned adequately..
Way forward
Responding to questions from The Sunday Mail, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education said to improve the pass rates in underperforming schools requires a multifaceted approach.
Communications and advocacy director in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary
Education Mr Taungana Ndoro said:
“As a ministry, we envisage to enhance our curriculum to ensure it is continuously relevant, engaging and aligned with educational goals.
“We also encourage active involvement of parents and the community in the education process, as we ride on the established mechanisms for regular communication between schools and parents, and promote parental participation in school activities and decision-making processes.”
Mr Ndoro said the ministry is currently implementing interventions to address the individual needs of learners, such as remedial classes, tutoring programmes and counselling services, which help in identifying struggling learners early and provide targeted support to help them catch up and succeed academically.
“The ministry is also enhancing effective systems for monitoring and evaluating learners’ performance, teacher effectiveness and school management.
“Regular assessment of learners’ progress and use of data to identify areas of improvement and tailor interventions accordingly are strategies that are underway,” said Mr Ndoro.
He said the ministry would soon embark on a joint monitoring exercise with various partners across the country.
“The monitoring exercise will examine challenges among schools to enforce all set protocols and measures as per minimum functionality of the standards set by the ministry. We seek to come up with baseline findings that inform programming and policy, as well as decision makers, on the required interventions by the Government and partners to ensure education for sustainable development and to ensure we have no zero percent pass rates in our schools,” he said.
It is also expected that the ongoing recruitment of teachers will help to reduce class sizes to ensure that teachers can provide individual attention to learners, thereby lowering the teacher-learner ratios to allow for more personalised instruction.
Zimbabwe has a high literacy rate and many of its nationals are running the show on the international stage.