Form Four candidates post improved results

Dar es Salaam. The general performance of candidates of the latest Form Four examinations have improved by 15 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, it has emerged.

According to the official results of 2013 Ordinary Level (O-Level) released yesterday by National Examinations Council of Tanzania, a total of 235,227 students which is equal to 58.25 per cent of the candidates who sat for their exams in November last year passed, compared to 185,940 or 43.08 in 2012.

Although boys with 53 per cent are ahead of the girls with 46 per cent in general results, girls by far outshined boys in the national top ranking of individuals, taking seven places in top ten of the best students.

According to Necta’s Deputy Executive Secretary Dr Charles Msonde, this year the institution used the same fixed grade range system that Necta and the ministry of education adopted in 2012 which breaks down the results into seven grades.

According to the system, A starts from 100 to 75, B+ 74-60, B 59-50, C 49-40, D 39-30, E 29-20 and F 19-0 marks. “A pass is awarded from A to D, and in overall results a candidate must score a minimum of two Ds or a C to pass the exams,” said Dr Msonde.

“The system also dictates that a final result on each subject is to be divided from two sources, 30 per cent from school continuous assessment and 70 per cent from the final exams,” he said.

Division zero or failure still has the largest chunk of the results share with 151,187 candidates ­ 42.91 per cent from nearly 60 per cent. Division four comes in second with 126,828 or 36 per cent.

Candidates who scored from division I up to III combined accounts for only 21 per cent. Division III 55,017 (12.78pc) II - 21,728 (6.17pc) and only 7,579 candidates or two per cent, scored the top grade, division one.

Government schools are still nowhere to be found in the most outstanding schools where private ones schools dominated the top ten. Mbeya’s St. Francis Girls led the 2013 list followed by Marian Boys, and Feza Girls in the top three.

The best three students are Robina Nicholous from Marian Girls (Pwani), Magreth Kakoko, St. Francis Girls (Mbeya) and Joyceline Marealle from CANOSSA in the city.

Basic Mathematics is still a hard nut to crack for most of the students in the country as only 17.7 per cent of the candidates passed. Kiswahili attracted majority pass (67 per cent).

Necta withheld results of some students for different reasons, among them 31,518 who didn’t pay examination fees, and whose results will be released after doing so. Others are 23 students who fell ill and couldn’t manage to sit for some subjects; these will sit for the respective subjects. A total of 24 students who had already registered for the exams fell ill and failed to do even a single examination, Necta has given them a chance to sit for their exams later this year.

Results of 272 candidates have been nullified for cheating. The number has dropped from 789 in 2012. One hundred and seventy one candidates from the same school were found with answers which are ‘exceptionally alike’ , suggesting that they got them from a same source, and 61 were caught with unauthorized notes in exam rooms.

Fourteen were caught trying to steal examination papers, 13 were caught exchanging answer booklets, and nine imposters were caught doing exams on behalf of legitimate candidates while four others were caught with cell phones in exam rooms.

The results announcement didn’t miss a dramatic disclosure, whereby in 2012 one student failed to answer the questions and sketched a cartoon bearing the caption that implied that Zombie had forgotten to wear shoes. This year some three students follow suit.

One drew a triangle hosting a skull and wrote ‘Freemason’ on top of it, he also wrote an email address ‘www.freemason.com’ and a masonic numerical code 666. Another sketched something resembling the CCM symbol depicting a hand hoe and hammer.