The Sunday News
Midlands Correspondent
MOST schools in the Midlands province recorded good pass rates for both O and A-level public examinations last year as compared to the 2012 results.
The performance of the Midlands schools is in direct contrast to the results recorded in other provinces of Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South where some schools posted a zero percent pass rate especially those in rural and peri-urban areas.
In the Midlands, however, rural schools continue to strive to score high with little known schools in rural and peri-urban areas competing for excellence.
According to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s 2013 O and A-level results analysis for Midlands province, some schools in rural areas performed very well and are among the province’s top 10 performers at both levels.
Gonawapotera in Chirumanzu district was the biggest surprise A-level performer in 2013 when they scored a 100 percent pass rate, matching such affluent schools like Regina Mundi and Anderson High.
While Regina Mundi and Anderson also performed well at O-level with 94,4 percent and 97,1 percent respectively, Gonawapotera failed to maintain their good performance at O-level and scored 30,07 percent which was an improvement from 23,68 percent in 2012.
Midlands provincial education director Mrs Agnes Gudo said the province recorded an overall pass rate of 89 percent at O-level and a 90,1 percent at A-level, a development which she said was very encouraging.
“As a province, we continue to strive for excellence and there was a slight improvement in our percentage pass rate for 2013 at both O and A-level as compared to 2012. This is a positive trend which is very encouraging,” she said.
According to the results analysis, out of 140 secondary schools in the province only 33 schools recorded a decrease in percentage pass rate from that of 2012 for O-level while most of the schools posted improved percentage pass rates.
The least performing school at O-level, Masvori Secondary in Gweru district, scored 13,51 percent which was a positive result from 2012’s 3,60 percent.
The least performing school at A-level was Chomuuyu High in Gokwe North with 29,41 percent with the results showing that most schools in the Midlands scored percentage pass rates which were below those recorded in 2012.
Shungu High which is number five in the province recorded 98,6 percent which was a decrease from 2012’s 100 percent.
