The Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB), in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, has released results of the 2023 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations which has registered a four percent decline from last year’s results.
Out of the 160,585 who registered for the examinations, 154,132 candidates sat for the examinations and 83,846 have passed representing a 54.4 percent pass rate.
Announcing the results at a press briefing in Lilongwe on Wednesday, MANEB Executive Director, Professor Dorothy Nampota said the 2023 pass rate is a decline of last year’s 58.44 percent.
Despite the examinations being leakage free, Nampota expressed concern that some schools have not done well with some registering zero percent pass rate.
She cited schools such as Phembe Community Day Secondary School (CDSS) in Mzimba South, Chaboli CDSS in Mzimba North, Real Park Private Secondary School in Neno, Chibvumbe CDSS in Blantyre Rural and Mbongozi CDSS in Kasungu.
Nampota described the situation as worrisome and has called upon government to conduct an assessment to establish the cause and find possible solutions to address the situation.
“The results are valid but performance has been poor than last year’s. It has gone down with some students struggling in subjects such as Chichewa and Social and Life Skills.
“However, at the same time we have seen improvements in performance of students in some Science subjects such as Mathematics and Chemistry,” she said.
Deputy Minister of Education, Nancy Chaola Mdooko said she was saddened with the decline in pass rate saying the situation needs an immediate response.
She said the ministry will conduct an assessment to establish the cause of the decline in pass rate and those schools which have registered zero pass rate.
“My ministry is dedicated to improve quality of education in the country. We have seen that most CDSS.s haven’t done well. The Ministry is constructing extra classrooms, information and communication laboratories, science laboratories to improve the quality of education in Malawi,” she said.
MANEB has, therefore, called upon candidates who wish to query their results to do so in writing through their school heads not later than 31st October, 2023.
