2020 PSLE Pass Rate Up Girl Emerges Best Performer

THE National Examinations Council of Tanzania (Necta) on Saturday (November 21, 2020) announced results for the 2020 Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), which indicate that pass rates have increased by 1.18 per cent.

A total of 833,672 out of 1,008,307 pupils who sat for the exams, equivalent to 82.68 per cent passed the examination.

Announcing the results in Dar es Salaam, Necta Executive Secretary, Dr Charles Msonde explained that 430,755 of those who passed were girls while the remaining 402,917 were boys.

In 2019, candidates who passed were 81.50 per cent, in which 395,738 (80.87 per cent) were girls while 363,999 (82.20 per cent) were boys. The exams were conducted on October 7-8 2020.

The results released saw Dar es Salaam taking the top slot in the overall national ranking, followed by Arusha and Simiyu in third position. Other regions in the top ten include Katavi, Kilimanjaro, Iringa, Kagera, Morogoro, Coastal and Mwanza.

Compared to last year’s performance, boys have outsmarted girls, although a girl, Herrieth Josephat from Graiyaki Primary School in Mara Region has emerged the best performer in the list of 10 best students.

The remaining male students with their schools in the brackets are Huma Huma (Kwema Modern – Shinyanga), Gregory Alphonce (Twibhoki – Mara), Nyambina Nyambina (Graiyaki-Mara), Andrew Mabula (Kwema Modern – Shinyanga), Jonata Nyamataga (Little Flower – Mara), Emmanuel Kashinje (Kwema Modern- Shinyanga), Emmanuel Marwa (Kwema Modern – Mara), Prosper Tumbo (God’s Bridge – Mbeya) and Yesaya Bendera (God’s Bridge – Mbeya).

The results also reflect the usual pattern, with private schools holding on to their dominance over public schools. Mbeya region God’s Bridge Primary School emerged the best, followed by Bunazi Green Acres and Twibhoki schools from Mara and Kagera in that order.

Kwema Modern school from Shinyanga was number four, Graiyaki from Mara came in number five, Kamebos from Kagera number six, Rweikiza from Kagera came in number seven, St Anne Marie from Dar es Salaam number eight, Mumtaaz in Mwanza number nine, while Rocken Hill in Shinyanga came in number ten.

Dr Msonde further said the results show that performance in Kiswahili, English Language and Social Studies has increased by between 0.43 and 5.10 per cent compared to 2019. In the case of Mathematics and Science subjects, their performance has dropped slightly by 0.33 and 0.65 per cent compared to 2019.

“Candidates have excelled in the subject of Kiswahili, where the pass rate is 87.68 per cent and the subject they passed with the lowest level compared to other subjects is English Language, with a pass rate of 57.24 per cent,” he said

Expounding further, he said the council has withheld the results of 110 candidates who fell ill or had problems and failed to take the exam or some subjects. The relevant candidates have been given another opportunity to take the PSLE 2021 exam under section 32 (1) of the examination rules.

The Necta boss said results indicate that performance in English Language is still low compared to other subjects, even though it continues to improve year by year. “More effort is needed to raise pass mark level in this subject,” he noted

Dr Msonde said Necta commends regional and municipal council examination committees in the country for their work in overseeing all national examination procedures in their areas.