Education minister says new curriculum to blame for 13% drop in MSCE pass rate
Minister of Education, Science and Technology William Susuwele Banda has expressed concern with the 2019 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) Examination results which shows the pass rate has decreased by 12.9 percent compared to last year and the lowest in the past nine years.
Minister of Education Dr. William Susuwele-Banda (R): Pass rate decrease of 13 percent worrying.-Photo by Abel Ikiloni, Mana
Susuwele Banda disclosed that only half of those who sat for the examination nationwide have passed.
He has since attributed low pass rate to the just reviewed curriculum.
Susuwele Banda explained that both teachers and learners needed to acquaint themselves with the new syllabus.
He said critical thinking and knowledge application characterizes the new syllabus.
The minister, therefore, expressed need to immediately organise in-service training sessions for educators, to familiarize them with subject content and teaching and learning materials regarding the new syllabus.
“Generally, our learners haven’t done well in the first core subjects (English, Mathematics, Biology and Geography) due to unfamiliarity of the revised syllabus and teaching and learning materials,” he said.
He added the new syllabus also requires one’s critical thinking and knowledge application when tackling any question as opposed to the previous syllabus.
On a positive note, the minister said MANEB has administered a 2019 leakage-free examination after a series of leakages in the past years. He said this year’s examination had negligible rate of cheating cases (at 0.006 per cent).
He has since pledged his ministry’s support to MANEB in its efforts to put the cheating malpractices to a complete stop.
Additionally, the Education Minister expressed sadness that 5.5 per cent of those who registered for the examination did not turn up for the examination, describing the development a big loss to government as the resources used for printing and other services could not be recovered.
He has since called upon the citizenry to encourage their wards to seriously concentrate on their studies and also sit for all examinable subjects.
A total of 98,332 candidates had registered, but only 92,867 sat for the examination.
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Bodza ilo! Bodza ilo Bodza Minister! Truth be told, this is the first crop of students to sit for MSCE without doing a JC……..!! What do you expect from a student who has been dormant for 4 secondary school years without a serious exam!! Onena tidanena kuti kuchotsa mayeso a JC kupangitsa ana kukhwefula kwambiri and expect poor results at MSCE……………….. pano mwapeza ndakatulo zina mwayamba kudana ndi syllabus …………… nde ngati kusintha syllabus ndikuyamba ……………………………………!! Makani siabwinoooooooooooooooooooo!!
Honorable minister; Am told this new curriculum has 23 or 26 subjects for secondary school; what are all these subjects for? If we plan education to be implemented through investment then the 23 or 26 subjects secondary school makes education expensive in a poor country. we need to be ashamed of doing wrong things with confidence.
Ministry of education has failed, teachers have failed, students have failed and the country has failed. That is what the minister is telling us. I would rather believe explanation what MANEB has said: They were strict with exam management to curb instances of cheating. Just as teachers are good at using tippex during elections, sometimes they are also good at assisting their student to cheat in an exam. this time around they had no chance.
Did the Minister do a study to ascertain the cause of the problem? This is the problem we have in Malawi. We jump to conclusion without any tangible evidence as to the cause of the problem. DO AN ANALYSIS MR MINISTER. This is what sane office bearers do elsewhere, and the results are what inform policy direction going forward. It’s called evidence-based policy making. One quick question, though: If you knew this would be the problem why did you introduce the new curriculum?
@hgfg
Agreed. The minister should not be so quick to find reasons for the poor results. And he ought to know better. Policy decisions must indeed be based on credible evidence.
Take the time and study the problem, and come up with solutions to improve next year’s results.
Presumably, MANEB have people whose job encompasses this kind of problem: and these people are paid big bucks to do this kind of job. Get them busy, like, yesterday.
For the minister to give such a quick draw answer, it’s like he’s letting MANEB off the hook.
Absolutely unacceptable in this age.
Shameful for a minister to acknowledge like this. Poor Malawi !!!
You introduced the new curriculum, now you are blaming it for lowering the pass rate? How can a fully grown minister like this one just bark, bark, bark and bark some more…….for nothing!
The minister is not saying the curriculum is bad, but rather being new, teachers and students had so many things to familiarise themselves with.
New curricula have been introduced before, but we have never had this outcome. How do you support your argument in light of my revelation (which I know is correct)?
Which surely means it was introduced wrongly not so?
Kikkkkkk that’s what happens when the country is being ruled by thieves, now you blame the cyllabus and the teachers with thier students, can’t you see that its just a sign of down fall of education in the country? Everything is a mess in this country! May be the problem was also that these kids were and or are not happy with the leadership we have in this country which I believe it’s true.
@Kaitano
Now we are going to politicize everything to a ridiculous level, are we?