Past MSCE examination process
* To give opportunity for MSCE candidates who failed 2020 exams to register for re-sit
* 2020 MSCE exams registered 60% fail rate
* The worst result rate in the past decade
By Duncan Mlanjira
Malawi National Examination Board (MANEB) has announced the extension deadline for registration of candidates for the 2021 Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLCE), Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) and Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations to April 16.
A statement from MANEB’s acting Executive Director, Dorothy Nampota to the general public and administrators of all approved examination centres, says this is to give an opportunity for the “candidates who did not perform well in the 2020 MSCE examination and they intend to re-sit for the 2021 exams.
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The 2020 MSCE exams have been riddled with controversy since last year — that started with its cancellation of the process in October last year due to massive leakage of some examination papers.
Fresh examination were taken in January this year, which Nampota declared that they were free of leakage, yielded very discouraging results as almost a 60% failed.
The results, announced last week, indicates that out of 138,310 that sat for the exams, 81,017 candidates failed while 57,293 passed — representing 41.42% pass rate.
In announcing the results, Nampota disclosed that out of the 64,297 female candidates that sat for the exams, 22,270 passed representing 34.64% pass rate.
Minister of Education Agnes NyaLonje
Out of 74,013 male candidates, 35,023 passed at 47.32% pass rate while the out of the 687 special needs candidates, 277 passed representing 40.32%.
In announcing the results, Minister of Education Agnes NyaLonje described the as the worst in the past decade but she was quick to attribute the poor performance to circumstances that led to the cancellation of the 2020 exams in October.
She also alluded to the fact that due to COVID-19 that saw schools being closed from March till September as another factor that could have contributed to the poor performance.
She also blamed poor management of teachers whom she said play a major role in the education sector.
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