By Albertina Nakale
WINDHOEK – The 2014 national results for the Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) Grade 10 and the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate (NSSC) Higher Level Grade 12 full-time results show some improvement, especially in the quality of the symbols obtained when compared to 2013.
However, the results for Grade 10 part-time are slightly poorer at grades C, D and E, while there was a slight improvement in performance at grades B, F and G with a stable achievement at grade A compared to last year.
Announcing the 2014 results for JSC grades 10 and 12 NSSC Higher Level, the Minister of Education, Dr David Namwandi, yesterday said that of the 35 592 candidates who registered for the Grade 10 examination this year, 19 264 qualified for admission to Grade 11 in 2015. This represents 54.1 percent of the candidates who qualified for Grade 11.
The finalisation of the NSSC Ordinary results (full-time and part-time) will be released not later than January 16 next year.
Namwandi also revealed that on average since 1993 the percentage of learners qualifying for admission has increased steadily from 37 percent to 54 percent this year.
“The number of candidates qualifying for admission to Grade 11 in 2015 might increase to approximately 22 164 because part-time candidates build up subject credits over a couple of years and normally meet the admission requirements to Grade 11 only after a number of years,” Namwandi said.
A total of 12 164 of the 57 096 Grade 12 candidates (full and part-time combined) entered for one or more NSSC Higher Level subject.
When compared to the 2013 results, the 2014 results show the percentage of candidates obtaining grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 increased when compared to 2013.
“It should also be noted that the graded entries increased from 95.8 percent in 2013 to 96 percent, which is supported by a decrease in the ungraded entries from 4.2 percent in 2013 to 4 percent in 2014. The quality symbols obtained clearly indicate that one should expect more enrolment at tertiary level,” he said.
For Grade 10 JSC, the regions performed differently with some significantly improving their positions in terms of national ranking while others dropped in 2014 compared to 2013.
The four northern regions remained unchanged in terms of top performing rankings for this year and last year, with Oshikoto at number one, followed by Oshana, Omusati and then Ohangwena.
Kavango East took position five.
Zambezi which also remained unchanged at number 6 is followed by Kavango West.
Erongo remained unchanged at number 8, with Omaheke following at number 9 after dropping two places in 2013 which is followed by Khomas at number 10 having moved up two places from number 12.
Kunene took number 11 this year after dropping two places in 2013 and //Kharas dropped one place from number 11 to 12 while Otjozondjupa remains unchanged at number 13. Hardap which is ranked the worst performing region is at number 14, having dropped four places in 2013.
The ministry encouraged candidates who did not make it to register with part-time centres such as Namibia College of Open Learning (Namcol) to upgrade their subject symbols.
Namwandi urged school principals to allow the 2 550 candidates for the 2014 Grade 10 examinations who are 17 years and younger and who did not make it to repeat in 2015.
In 2013, about 2 665 candidates were allowed to repeat in 2014 and 1 799 (67.5 percent) qualified for admission to Grade 11 in 2015.
The national scholarship for best overall performance in NSSC Higher Level of N$2 000 went to Rene Spoerer from Windhoek Gymnasium School, while Nelusigwe Mbingu also from Windhoek Gymnasium and Mark-Peter Eggert from Otjiwarongo Secondary School both received the national prize of N$1 200 each based on best performance in six NSSC Higher Level subjects.
Jan Potgieter from Windhoek Gymnasium and Jesslyn Bossale from St Paul’s College also each received N$1 200 for best performance in five NSSC Higher Level subjects.