The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
THE Ordinary Level results that were released last week on Friday saw the majority of candidates from Manicaland’s day schools failing to garner a minimum of five subjects, while most of their counterparts at boarding schools came out with flying colours.
Only one day school — St Dominic’s High School of Mutare – made it into the top five with 48 candidates with 5As and above.
The school was followed by St Joseph’s Mutare, at number 11, with 15 candidates with 5As and above.
The rest of the day schools that made it from number 18 to 54 had between one and six candidates with at least five As.
All the other day schools could not produce even a single candidate with 5As, which goes on to show the learning standards at these schools.
For a candidate to pass at ‘O’ Level, they are required to attain at least five subjects with Grade C or better.
However, the provincial passrate will be released in about two weeks after all the schools conclude their analyses.
Unfortunately, a number of schools in the province recorded a zero percent passrate during the 2022 Ordinary Level ZIMSEC exams, a development that has raised serious concerns among stakeholders, with some calling for investigations on the causes of such a dismal performance.
‘O’ Level is a significant stage in a student’s academic life as it oftens determines the direction that one takes.
Manicaland Deputy Provincial Education Director (Secondary Schools), Mr Charles Mugano said while some traditional giants did well, the performance of some day and rural schools was a disaster.
“We are still analysing the results, but from the look of things, the traditional giants have done exceptionally well. However, generally the standards have gone done and point to a disaster at some schools. We are beginning to see the re-emergence of candidates with a chain of Us, which is worrisome,” said Mr Mugano.
Going back to 2021, about 33 schools in Manicaland scored a zero percent pass rate.
Mr Mugano partly blamed Covid-19 for the poor performance.
Lack of motivation and perseverance, lack of preparation and effort, poor time management, truancy, inattentiveness in classrooms, lack of commitment to study, psychological problems, teacher behaviour, poor teaching methods, as well as external, environmental and contextual problems also feature prominently on the reasons behind the poor performance by some schools.
Mr Mugano said learners usually experience academic difficulties that have both academic and non-academic characteristics, which warrant various strategic interventions.
“Our vision as a ministry is zero tolerance to a zero percent pass rate, which means as a ministry we must provide quality, relevant and wholesome education to make sure that all our learners excel. No school should record a zero percent pass rate,” said Mr Mugano.
Away from the poor results, St Faith’s High School of Rusape was the best performing school with 105 candidates with 5As and above.
The best candidate at the school had 19As and 1B, followed by one with 18A and 2Bs.The third best learner had 16As, followed by four with 15As each.
St Faith’s High, which falls under the auspices of the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland, had 154 candidates who wrote the November 2022 exams.
Only two candidates failed, thereby giving the institution an overall pass rate of 98.70 percent.
Another Anglican school, St David’s Bonda Girls’ High, came second with 84 girls with 5As and above.
The best performing candidate had 14 straight As.
Bonda had 194 candidates, and all of them passed, thereby giving the school a 100 percent pass rate.
Nyanga High School (Marist) was third with 52 candidates with 5As and above.
Marist had 94 candidates, and all passed, thereby giving the school a 100 percent pass rate.
St Dominic’s was the best performing day school with 48 candidates with 5As and above, followed by Kriste Mambo with 41 candidates with a minimum of 5As, and St Augustine’s with 36 candidates with 5As and above.
Marange High has scaled up the ladder to number seven with 23 candidates with a minimum of 5As, followed by Holy Ghost with 22 candidates.
Knowstics had 18 candidates with 5As and above, followed by Nyazura High School with 16.
St Joseph’s High Mutare was the second best day school after St Dominic’s at number 11. A total of 15 of its candidates scored 5As and above.
Mt Selinda High in Chipinge had 14 candidates with 5As or better, followed by Nyanga’s Emmanuel High (12), Buhera’s Makumbe High (10) and Makoni’s St Therese High (10).
Mavhudzi High and Nyashanu High Schools had nine stundets apiece, while Gaza High had six.
St Matthias Tsonzo and Chipinge High each had five students with 5As and above.
Eight schools – Mutare Girls’ High, Elsie Gledhill, St Michael Tongogara, First Class Academy, Alpha, Hartzell High, St Mary Magadalene, and Regina Coeli — were all tied at number 21 with each getting four candidates with 5As and above.
