KATIMA MULILO – Zambezi education director, Austin Samupwa, is unhappy over the region’s failure to attain a 65 percent pass rate in the Grade 10 examination results, which was the intended target.
During the years 2012 and 2013 the region has been unable to achieve the set benchmark with only a negligible improvement of 1 percent in last year’s Grade 10 examination results, which translated into a 53 percent pass rate up from 52 percent in the preceding year. The region’s ranking remained at position six nationally. This came to light at the first review meeting between the director, regional office staff and school managers last week. “Our target of 65 percent remains a dream yet to be achieved. We only managed to move up by 1 percent from 52 percent to 53 percent. Order and discipline is very important. You cannot change anything if there’s chaos at your schools. I made an announcement here last year that I don’t want principals in town when they are not supposed to be in town. In 2014, if it means policing, then that’s what we are going to do,” warned Samupwa. He described the Grade 10 regional results as mediocre and said he fails to understand how such a large percentage of schools fell short of achieving the set target of 65 percent, even though a lot of effort has been put in improving performance. “Out of 52 Grade 10 schools, only 11 managed to reach the minimum 65 percent. This means 41 schools fell below the minimum benchmark and 21.2 percent of our schools heeded our policy, while 78.8 percent ignored the set target. I reject these results because they are not equal to our capacity. It shall not be accepted in this region and we cannot continue to operate this way,” cautioned Samupwa.
Samupwa further said early remedial action is necessary this year and that school principals should be held accountable for the performance of their schools. “We are going to intervene as early as possible. In 2014 we should not allow any teacher to fall below 65 percent. When the April results are out, we are not going to leave principals to go scot- free. I have instructed that consequent action follow either praise or reprimand in the form of letters of warning or praise. This must cascade down to teachers as well. This region has the capacity to surpass any other region,” said the education director.
Samupwa further berated the regional staff for their procrastination in executing their duties, saying such tendencies by extension contribute to poor education delivery. “School enquiries and needs should be attended to within 48 hours of receipt of correspondence or at least acknowledge receipt of such correspondence and the amount of time it may take to resolve [issues should be shortened]. Education is an emergency and clients should be assisted early enough. Schools are getting frustrated because they are not getting services from the place we call Boma,” said Samupwa in reference to where the education office is located. As part of the remedial action envisaged Samupwa called for regular school inspections and counselling services to be intensified. “Two full inspections on school heads per month, four teacher inspections per month and four counselling services for HIV/AIDS should be conducted”, said Samupwa. In light of the national elections due to be held this year and the expected political campaigning that will precede the election, Samupwa implored the teaching staff to consider completing their syllabi much earlier to avoid inconveniences. “I want you to remember that 2014 is an election year. The earlier we finish our syllabus, the better. In this case, strictness to round off the syllabi by 31 July 2014 is more necessary than ever before,” appealed Samupwa. He also did not spare the lower-primary teachers’ fraternity saying poor performance at upper-primary level is as a result of a poor foundation.
“There’s very little going on in lower-primary. There are massive literacy and numeracy problems. This is the reason causing the higher failure rate at upper-primary level. This is where our disease is coming from and we need to treat it with the right medicine,” said Samupwa. Even though the region remained stagnant in terms of its Grade 10 examination results, that was not the case with the Grade 12 higher grade results that saw the region moving from position six to an impressive second. The best performing schools in the Grade 10 examination in order of ranking have been identified as Ibbu, Sauzuo, Sikubi, Linyanti, Lusu, Dr Sam Nujoma, Kongola, Imukusi and Nankuntwe combined schools. Caprivi Senior Secondary School performed the best in the Grade 12 higher grade examination. Ibbu Combined School achieved a 100 percent pass rate.
By George Sanzila