Mat' North students flunk ZJC

Matabeleland North Provincial students dismally failed the regionally set   Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC) examinations with some scoring as low as six percent.

The province introduced its own version of the discarded ZJC.

The examinations are not meant to screen pupils to proceed to Form Three but to identify gaps and ensure that teachers work on those gaps in the following two years in preparation for examinations.

Matabeleland North Provincial Education Director Boithatelo Mnguni said the performance was not up to standard.

"The results were bad, pupils were getting as low as six percent in some subjects. We have to ensure that the situation is corrected as soon as possible," she said.

 "We now have a picture of the situation in lower forms. We are, however, not too sure of the reasons as to why these pupils performed poorly. It could be that there is poor coverage of the syllabus at that stage or the teachers are relaxed," said Mguni.

 She said as a province they have decided to go the extra lessons way so that the pupils catch up.

The Government in 2013 once mulled the idea of re-introducing ZJC in a bid to improve the national pass rate.