Standard Seven pass rate up by three per cent

DAILY NEWS Reporter

STANDARD Seven Examination's pass rate has increased by a slight 2.52 per cent this year, with 238 pupils having their results annulled over cheating.

The National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) Executive Secretary, Dr Charles Msonde, told reporters in Dar es Salaam that the pass mark has increased from last year's 67.84 to 70.36 per cent this year, with impressive performance in social studies as Mathematics and English had low pass mark compared to last year.
The National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) Executive Secretary, Dr Charles Msonde, told reporters in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the pass mark has increased from last year's 67.84 to 70.36 per cent this year, with impressive performance in social studies as Mathematics and English had low pass mark compared to last year.
He said NECTA will closely follow up pupils who excelled in the examinations when they join secondary education to see if there will be consistency, noting that should it be realised that there were cheatings in their final primary examinations, their results would be annulled.
Dr Msonde said through their investigations, they have realised that in some schools, teachers collude with pupils in the cheating, with some teachers writing the exams for pupils and others writing the answers in their uniforms for easy of copying.
He said the council has already reported the matter to responsible authorities to take disciplinary measures against the culprits as per public service code of ethics. Dk Msonde cited Sengerema District-based Tumaini School whose owner Jafari Mahunde stole the exams and prepared the answers for the pupils who wrote them in their uniforms and copied to their answer booklets in the examination room, under the assistance of examination invigilator Alex Singoye.
At Little Flower School, the Head- teacher, Cecilia Nyamoronga, stole the exams and prepared the answer sheets, which she handed over to the Invigilation Head Haruni Mumwi and his assistant Genipha Simon to pass them over to the pupils in the examination room, before they were spotted by NECTA officialsAt Mihamakumi School in Sikonge, the Headteacher Kaombwe Samweli teamed up with other teachers at the schools, Leonard Maleta, Andrew Michael, Gilbert Gervas and John Puna, under the assistance of invigilator Fatuma Selemani to write the exams for their pupils before they were netted by Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB).
Qash school in Manyara Region’s Babati District employed a different strategy, teacher Asha Mosha opting to hide in the toilet from where she solved the questions and supplied answers to the students.
The deceit was also recorded at St Getrude School in Ruvuma where the Headteacher Fridolina Mwalongo positioned her teachers Michael Mwafongo, Leonard Huule, Samson Mwaijibe, January Hongilo, Alkano Kisakali and Theodate Hyere at the dormitories where pupils were going for answers.
As for Kondi Kasandalala School in Sikonge, the cheating was discovered from the answer sheets as pupils had answered all the questions the same way which is unusual as it was later realised that they had common answer sheets. Dr Msonde said 555,291 out of 789,479 candidates who sat for the exams passed, scoring between 100 and 250 marks. He added that 16,929 candidates scored Grade A while 141,616 had Grade B, 396,746 achieving Grade C and 212,072 scoring Grade D. The remaining 21,872 pupils scored Grade E .
Giving overall top ten pupils, boys have topped the list with nine slots. The best top ten are Japhet Stephano, Jamal Athuman Enock Bundala (Kwema), Justina Gerald and Shabani Mavunde (Tusiime), Jacob Wagine, Isaac Isaac, Daniel Kitundu and Benjamin Benevenuto (Kwema) and Azad Ayatullah (Kaizirege)
The top ten schools are Rocken Hill (Shinyanga), Mugini (Mwanza), Fountain of Joy and Tusiime (Dar es Salaam), Mudio Islamic (Kilimanjaro), Atlas (Dar es Salaam), St Achileus (Kagera), Gift skillfull (Dar es Salaam) and Carmel of Morogoro
The last ten schools are Mgata, Kitengu, Lumba Chini (Morogoro), Zege and Kikole (Tanga), Magunga (Morogoro), Nchinila (Manyara), Mwabalebi (Simiyu), Ilorienito (Arusha) and Chohero (Morogoro).
The top ten regions include Geita, Katavi, Iringa, Dar es Salaam, Kagera, Mwanza, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Njombe and Tabora, with the best ten municipalities being Mpanda, Geita, Arusha, Mafinga, Chato, Mwanza, Moshi, Makambako, Ilemela and Hai