Pass rate up, as Necta stops announcing best performers

THE National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) has stopped announcing best performers, while stating a slight increase on pass rate for students who sat for 2022 Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE).

A total of 456,975 which is equivalent to 87.79 per cent out of 520,558 students, who sat for 2022 CSEE have passed, NECTA announced yesterday.

The pass rate has slightly increased by 0.49 per cent, compared to the other year (2021) in which, 422,388 (87.30 per cent) students had passed.

The council also announced decision to stop announcing top ten best performing schools and students for both genders, saying the move was not productive and only worked as a marketing tool for some schools.

NECTA Acting Executive Secretary Mr Athumani Amasi told journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the process of announcing the best schools among the 18,000 secondary schools in the country is not productive for the nation, because in a way it markets the schools.

“It appears that some owners of schools are now capitalising on the procedure by NECTA to announce top ten performing schools and the same figure for students in both genders on their marketing strategy, which should not be the priority,” NECTA boss said.

He also noted that NECTA has cancelled the procedure to announce the best students among all students in Tanzania. The reason, he said is because students may have undergone through a different learning environment.

“To mention the best student in a group that despite having taken the same examinations, might have not studied in the same environment, is somewhat not fair,” he said.

Detailing about the results, Mr Amasi said the students who scored division I, II, III and IV included 243,285 girls (87.08 per cent) and 213,690 boys (88.60 per cent).

Mr Amasi noted that the candidates who scored good results in Division I – III is 192,348 (36.95 per cent). The figure include 87,098 girls (31.18 per cent) and 105,250 boys (43.64 per cent).

“The level of performance has increased by 1.11 per cent compared to the year 2021, where the candidates who passed in division I – III were 173,422 equal to 35.84 per cent,” Mr Amas said.

Speaking about Qualifying Test (QT) results, Mr Amas said the statistics show that a total of 4,059 candidates equivalent to 42.47 per cent of the 9,557 candidates who sat for QT examinations have passed.

Moreover, he said NECTA has nullified national examination results of 333 students who were found to have cheated on their 2022 CSEE exams.

The council is also withholding results for 286 other candidates who did not complete their exams due to medical conditions among other reasons. The affected students included one from the QT and 332 were school candidates.

Amasi detailed that the council also revoked results of four students for writing insults on their answer sheets.

Mr Amasi further noted that the council has suspended three examination centres that were proven to have cheated in the CSEE 2022 examination.

He mentioned the centres as Andrew Faza Memorial School and Cornelius School in Dar es Salaam, as well as Mnemonic Academy of Urban West in Zanzibar.