Government to probe causes of poor math results

Education minister, Prof. Adolf Mkenda. PHOTO | FILE

By Louis Kalumbia

More by this Author

Dar es Salaam. Education, Science and Technology Minister Adolf Mkenda has said the government plans to establish why students perform poorly in Basic Mathematics exams - as was the case of the 2021 Form Four examinations results.

The 2021 Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE) results announced recently by the National Examinations Council of Tanzania (Necta) show that students passed most fundamental subjects at an average of 55.33 percent.

However, in Basic Mathematics, candidates performed at 19.54 percent which is below average. Subjects (and the percentage of candidates’ performance shown in brackets were) Swahili (95.58 percent); Chemistry (92.02) and Book Keeping (71.30).

Others are Civics (70.46); Commerce (67.40); Biology (67.23); English Language (66.84); Geography (60.55); History (59.21) and Physics (55.33).

Prof Mkenda was speaking during an event to award Form Four students who performed well in Basic Mathematics in the 2021 CSEE in the Ubungo Constituency.

The event - held at the University of Dar es Salaam (Udsm) - was organized by the Ubungo Constituency legislator, Kitila Mkumbo.

Speaking during the event, Prof Mkenda said the performance in Basic Mathematics was a calamity and that the government was going to research to establish the cause.

“The national passing percentage of 19.45 percent as well as 16 percent for the constituency are very unsatisfactory. This is a catastrophe that needs to be investigated by collecting information from each school before designing mitigation measures,” said Prof Mkenda.

He commended Prof Mkumbo for his strategy to give incentives to teachers and students to love and put more efforts aimed to perform better in Basic Mathematics and other subjects.

Prof Mkumbo said the awards have enabled the constituency and the district to improve student performance in Basic Mathematics in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

“This is because students have been increasing learning efforts bearing in mind they will be rewarded for better performance,” Prof Mkumbo said.

Teachers will also be awarded Sh100,000 each for every student who scored A or B in Basic Mathematics. Students who performed better in the CSEE will have their school fees for Form V and Form VI paid by the legislator (Mkumbo).

According to him, headmasters and headmistresses whose schools scored As in Basic Mathematics would be awarded Sh100,000 each.

Most importantly, all students who scored A, B and C in the 2021 CSEE alongside their teachers will be complemented with a three day visit to the Saadani National Park, in the Coast Region according to him.

For his part, Ubungo District Commissioner Kheri James said Basic Mathematics is a fundamental subject that determines students’ passing in other subjects - and their educational journey in general.