Examination results concern CECOM

The Catholic Education Commission in Malawi (CECOM), an arm of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) says it is concerned with the performance of students at Malawi National Examination Board’s (MANEB) examinations.

In a statement signed by CECOM’s National Education Policy Coordinator, Steven Ndhlovu bemoaned the failure of students at Primary School Leaving Certificate Examinations (PSLCE), Junior Certificate Examinations (JCE) and Malawi School Certificate Examinations (MSCE) was an indication of dwindling standards of education.

“It is a manifestation of an ineffective process of teaching and learning that is not adequate enough to prepare students, not only for MANEB examinations, but also the acquisition of expected academic standards,” reads the statement in part.

The commission observed that since this trend has been going on for a long time, the nation now seems to consider it as normal and acceptable and yet it is a serious cause for concern.

CECOM said the situation was a result of a combination of several factors, with shortage of trained teaching staff as one of the major ones.

The Commission appealed to Ministry of Education Science and Technology to consider improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools by employment more and qualified teachers.

The concern comes in the wake of the results of MSCE which has seen 71.486 students passing out of 130,296 candidates representing 54.9 percent pass rate.