The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
BARING Primary School in Mutare had 26 learners scoring six units in the 2021 ZIMSEC Grade Seven examinations, thereby making the urban Government-owned institution the best performing school in the province.
According to results that were released last week, Mutare Junior School weighed in second position with 20 candidates who attained six units.
The 2021 ZIMSEC Grade Seven stream is the first to have six examinable learning areas with the latest addition of PE/PVA to the number of examinable subjects.
Chancellor Junior School came third with 11 candidates scoring six units, while Chikanga Primary had nine of its candidates attaining six units.
Nyanga boarding school, Mt Melleray, had eight learners who attained six units, while Rusape’s John Cowie Primary School and privately owned Milestone were tied at seven candidates with six units.
Sheni in Dangamvura and Murahwa in Chikanga had six and five learners who had six units, respectively.
St Joseph’s in Makoni had four.
Tsanzaguru Primary, located in Makoni District, had three learners with six units, while St Joseph’s Primary in Mutare also had three.
Acting Manicaland Provincial Education Director, Mr Richard Gabaza said the lengthy school closures induced by the Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected learners.
“There was a slight nosedive in terms of the schools’ overall performances due to several factors that include but are not limited to the Covid-19 pandemic induced prolonged school closures. It affected the performance of learners.
“It is also a fact that this was the first stream to sit for the Competence Based Curriculum. There was bound to be challenges as it was a learning curve. That also meant learners had to deal with insufficient textbooks because of the novelty of some of the learning areas.
“Inadequate ICT tools also affected learning, especially in the rural schools. This is the gap that reflected in the results of our learners.
“A noticeable divide between rural and urban schools was also evident. English and PE/PVA had lowest pass rates. These are the areas we have to focus more on,” said Mr Gabaza.
