Girls dominate A-Level results

Girls outperformed boys in the November 2015 Advanced Level examinations in all the country's 10 provinces, results released by Zimsec last week have shown.

The results also show Harare leading the pack in the national examination with Matabeleland North coming last.

According to the statistics, Harare recorded a 96,8 percent pass rate for female candidates, against 79,7 percent for their male counterparts.

In second place is Mashonaland East Province with a 94,2 percent pass rate for female candidates against 90,4 percent for males.

Masvingo Province came third with a 93,1 percent for females while male candidates scored 90,4 percent. In fourth position is Mashonaland Central Province where 92,7 percent of girls passed against 87,1 for boys.

Manicaland Province is in fifth position with a 91 percent pass rate for girls, against 87,6 percent for boys, while in Mashonaland West Province girls scored 89,4 percent against 83,4 percent for boys.

In seventh position is Midlands Province where 88,7 percent girls passed, against an 83,1 percent pass rate for boys.

On position eight is Matabeleland South Province with 88,4 and 83,1 percent pass rates for female and male students, respectively.

In Bulawayo Province, 86,5 percent of girls passed against 80,7 percent boys. Matabeleland North occupies the last position at 83,6 for girls, against 76,5 percent for boys.

In an interview with The Herald, Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Professor Paul Mavhima said the trend showed Government efforts at empowering the girl child were coming to fruition.

"Firstly, as Government we have just done tremendously well in terms of promoting the girl child.

"All our programmes emphasise that the girl child should have the same opportunities as the boy child. In a way, the outcome of the results also says that girls tend to be more focused than boys," said Professor Paul Mavhima.

"We are busting the myth which used to say that we should promote men into positions of authority as we are realising that girls can be able to focus and so, they are producing good results.

"But it also reflects on our education system as a good reflection of the Government policy in promoting the girl child and it is also a good reflection in that as a country, we do well to make sure the women population is educated at high levels and also award opportunities to enter positions of authority because they are more focused and tend to produce better results.

"We are happy with that. What we would like to see is more and more involvement of girls in Mathematics and Science subjects improving in the future," the Deputy Minister said.

Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe Chairperson Virginia Muwanigwa echoed the same sentiments.

"This goes to show that there is something happening in our system in awarding equal opportunities in the learning environment, which then makes it possible for the girls to excel in their studies.

"What I know is that if equal opportunities are given to both girls and boys there should be no reason why girls cannot do just as well as the boys because it is not a biological issue, but an issue of opportunities being availed to either of the sexes."