HIGHLIGHTS: Minister of Education, Douglas Siakalima, (MP) has today announced the 2024 Grade seven and nine examination results.
Here are the highlights from the joint release of primary and junior secondary school leaving examination results.
2024 PRIMARY SCHOOL LEAVING (PSL) EXAMINATION RESULTS
✅ Out of the 543,069 candidates who registered for the 2024 PSL examination, a total of 491,785 candidates sat the examination, representing an attendance of 90.56 percent.
✅A total of 350,116 candidates obtained the Primary School Leaving Certificate, representing a pass rate of 71.19 percent.
✅Out of the candidates, 234, 097 were boys representing 47.60 percent and 257,688 were girls representing 52.40 percent.
✅It is worth noting that over three years now, the Ministry has continued to record more girls registering and sitting the PSL examination, including the 2024 examination.
✅A total of 51,284 candidates were absent from the 2024 PSL examination, representing 9.44 percent of the candidates that had registered for the examination and this showed slight reduction from the 9.60 absenteeism rate recorded in 2023.
✅The candidates who obtained the Primary School Leaving Certificate are the ones who will progress to Form One in 2025, in line with the abolishment of automatic progression from primary to secondary education.
✅On the other hand, a total of 141,669 candidates, representing 28.81 percent of those who sat the examination, obtained Division Four and therefore shall not proceed to Form One.
✅When combined with the 51,284 candidates who were absent from the examination, a total of 192,953, representing 35.53 percent of the candidates who had entered for the examination, shall not proceed to secondary school in 2025.
✅A total of 543,069 candidates registered for the 2024 Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), reflecting an increase of 8.04 percent from the number of registered candidates in 2023 and of the registered candidates this year, 259,066 were male, representing 47.7 percent and 284,003 were female representing 50.30 percent.
✅A total of 542,913 were Zambian, while 156 candidates were from St. Jeff College School in Johannesburg, South Africa.
✅ Permanent Secretaries in the Ministry of Education to ensure that the learners who did not meet the standard for selection to Form One are accorded a chance to repeat primary education, while those who were absent are brought back to school within the year 2025.
✅Contrary to the arguments in the public domain that the quality has been compromised due to increased numbers of learners, arising from the implementation of free education, the results show that the performance of learners has slightly improved from 2023 to 2024.
✅The pass rate has improved from 69 percent to 71.19 percent and absenteeism has slightly reduced and these achievements can be attributed to the massive recruitment of teachers, procurement of teaching and learning resources, improvement of the teaching and environment through infrastructure development, and the procurement of desks, to mention a few.
2024 JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL LEAVING (JSSL) EXAMINATION RESULTS
✅A total of 325,108 candidates entered for the 2024 JSSL examination, representing an increase of 3.6 percent compared to the candidature in 2023.
✅Of the 325,108 candidates who entered, 154,345 were boys, representing 47.47 percent and 170,763 were girls representing 52.53 percent.
✅A total of 302,870 candidates sat the examination, representing 93.16 percent of those who had entered for the examination.
✅Out of the 325,108 who sat the examination, 143,038 were boys representing 47.23 percent and 159,832 were girls representing 52.77 percent.
✅On the other hand, 22,238 candidates were absent, bringing the 2024 national absenteeism rate to 6.84 percent and in 2024, the absenteeism rate reduced by 0.14 percentage points from 6.98 percent in 2023.
✅Out of the 302,870 candidates that sat the 2024 JSSL examination, a total of 169,280 candidates obtained the Junior Secondary School Leaving Certificate representing 55.89 percent.
✅The results showed an increase by 2.34 percentage points from the 53.55 percent Certificate pass rate in 2023.
✅Further, a total of 110,203 candidates obtained statements in 2024, representing 36.39 percent compared to 37.62 percent in 2023.
✅23,387 failed the 2024 examination, representing 7.72 percent compared to 8.83 percent in 2023.
✅ The 2024 Junior Secondary School Leaving (JSSL) examination results show an increased certificate pass rate, with a corresponding reduction in the proportions of candidates that obtained the Statement of Results and Failed the exams, respectively.
✅ The progression rate to Grade 10 in 2025 is 55.89 percent, covering all the candidates who obtained the Junior Secondary School Leaving Certificate, showing and increase in progression rates by 2.34 percentage points from the 53.55 percent in 2023.
✅Further, the learners who wrote the 2024 Junior Secondary External (JSE) examination in July and obtained the Junior Secondary School Leaving Certificate are eligible enrolment into Grade 10 in 2025.
EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE CASES
✅ 92 individual and one (01) whole center cases of suspected examination malpractices, which were of assistance in nature, were reported during the 2024 JSSL examination.
✅The results of the affected candidates have been withheld pending determination by the appropriate committee of the ECZ Board.
✅The Minister reiterated that the Ministry of Education shall not tolerate examination malpractices and those found wanting shall be dealt with in line with the law.
✅Candidates will be able to access the results through the SMS Result Notification System (SRNS) via ZAMTEL and MTN mobile phone services using the 8383-short code.
✅The Form one learners will open on 10th February 2025, while the Grade 10 learners will open together with the rest of the learners on Monday 13th January 2025 and the grace period will be up to 24th January 2025, after which the learners may lose their places.