Grade 9 pass rate Drops by 7.11%

Out of 255,449 candidates who sat for the 2018 Grade 9 examination 116,616 candidates have been selected to Grade 10.

Acting Minister of General Education Elizabeth PHIRI says out of the 255,449 candidates a total of 29,074 candidates were absent from the examination of whom 13,932 were boys and 15,142 were girls.

Phiri adds that the national absenteeism rate was 10.22 percent, representing a decrease of 1.82 percent from 12.04 percent recorded in 2017.

She further notes that despite the reduction in absenteeism rate in 2018, the number of candidates absent from the exams is still high and a big waste in terms of examination materials.