Dar es Salaam. The National Form Four results which were announced on January 15, show a pass rate of 5.19 percent, half of the number of candidates who wrote the exams either got Division IV.
According to statistics released by the National Examinations Council of Tanzania (Necta) 221,049 candidates or 50.74 percent have obtained fourth grade, of which 126,773 are girls and 94,276 are boys.
That number is an increase of 2.68 percent of candidates who obtained a similar grade in the 2019 exams where 205, 613 students equivalent to 48.6 percent scored Division Four.
While the figures are the same for Division Four, a total of 61,696 candidates Failed which is less than the 81,808 who failed in 2019.
Speaking at various intervals, education stakeholders say the number indicates that there is a large group of young people who will fail to advance at various levels of education as the fourth division does not warrant selection in a government school.
University of Dar es Salaam lecturer, Faraja Kristomus says that the massive failure creates the impression that there are challenges in the teaching system.
She said if the teaching system is changed from memorization to proficiency, many teachers in the periphery will not have received adequate training on the system, a situation that makes them continue teaching in the old ways.
"In many peripheral schools teachers do not have training in building student's skills, schools also do not have the enabling environment that allows the child to use his skills in learning and unfortunately when the exams come it is designed by the system," said Faraja.
Retired head of the Teachers' Union, Ezekiah Oluoch said the situation was exacerbated by an increase in the number of students in schools which was inconsistent with the increase in the number of teachers.
Oluoch said many schools are in a difficult situation to enable teaching and learning a fact that contributes to the number of students getting fourth grade and zero.
“More than 4,000 schools are in rural areas where the teaching learning is difficult, few teachers, they are not motivated, there are no books and the teacher- pupil ratio is just unbearable. Besides when children spend long hours without eating it also reduces their attention span,” he said.
"In this regard, the Government should allow parents to donate food to the school so that even children who complete the sessions at 2pm can remain studying until evening. This will help even those whose environment does not allow them to study while at home, ”said Oluoch.
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