MSCE 2026: 111,510 students pass as MANEB releases results — boys outperform girls, but girls lead among special needs candidates

• Overall pass rate stands at 59.26%, with 111,510 of 188,169 candidates successful
• Male candidates outperform females: 62.80% pass rate for boys vs 53.77% for girls
• Internal candidates post best results of any category, at 64.08%
• External candidates struggle most, with under half passing
• Female special needs candidates buck the trend, outperforming males by nearly 8 points

The Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) has released this year’s Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) results, with 111,510 of the 188,169 candidates who sat the exams declared successful.

MANEB Executive Director Prof. Dorothy Nampota confirmed the overall pass rate stands at 59.26%.

Boys outperform girls overall

The results reveal a clear gender gap in performance. Of the 98,020 male candidates who sat the exam, 63,037 passed — a pass rate of 62.80%. Among the 90,149 female candidates, 48,473 passed, giving a lower pass rate of 53.77%.

Internal candidates lead the pack

Performance also varied significantly by candidate category, with internal candidates recording the strongest results of any group. Of 115,186 internal candidates, 73,807 passed — a 64.08% pass rate, the highest among all major categories.

External candidates fared worst, with just 9,040 of 19,873 passing, a pass rate of 45.49%.

Candidates studying through Open and Distance Learning (ODL) posted a pass rate of 53.97%, with 28,663 of 53,110 candidates successful.

Special needs candidates: girls lead the way

Among the 908 candidates registered under Special Needs Education (SNE), 562 passed, giving a 61.89% pass rate.

Here, the gender trend reversed. Female SNE candidates outperformed their male counterparts by a significant margin: 278 of 420 female candidates passed, a 66.19% pass rate, compared with 284 of 488 male candidates passing, at 58.20%.

What the numbers show

Taken together, the figures paint a mixed picture: internal candidates performed best of any major category, while female candidates trailed male candidates overall.

Among SNE candidates, however, the pattern flipped, with girls outperforming boys by almost eight percentage points.