Why maths is still a problem in Standard 7 exam

Dar es Salaam. Mathematics has continued to be a hard nut to crack among Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) candidates.

The National Examinations Council of Tanzania (Necta) yesterday announced results of this year’s PSLE, with 1,092,960 of the 1,397,293 candidates – equivalent to 80.58 percent – passing the exam.

Successful candidates

The successful candidates comprised 585,040 girls and 507,920 boys.

However, only 48.83 percent of candidates who tackled the mathematics paper passed, down from 53.29 percent in 2022.  This means that more than half of candidates who attempted the mathematics paper in this year’s examination failed.

Dr Amos Chacha from the Saint Augustine University of Tanzania said a multiplicity of factors was behind the perpetual mass failure in mathematics.

“Pupils, teachers, the learning environment, curriculum and schools are all factors in this long-standing issue,” he said.

Education system

Dr Chacha noted that the trend raised questions as to whether the existing education system can supply graduates who possess the essential skills to enable them to cope with the ever-evolving technological society.

He explained that factors behind poor performance in mathematics in PSLE include pupils’ attitude and perception, teachers’ attitude, teaching methodologies of mathematics teachers, quality and performance of mathematics teachers and the effectiveness and relevance of mathematics curriculum.

“Some teachers’ attitude in mathematics is a significant determinant of negative attitudes among pupils. The way pupils perceive teachers’ characteristics will affect their attitude towards mathematics,” Dr Chacha said.

He added that some teachers of science subjects have been harsh on the pupils, while others have convinced learners that the subject is difficult as a way to motivate them to work hard, but in reality, they increase pupils’ fears even further.

“This issue does not require any research, but needs more mobilisation and teachers to change negative attitudes among pupils. Successful mathematicians should be able to help change these attitudes.”

Dr Mohamed Ali Mohamed of he State University of Zanzibar said research conducted in the last decade has identified significant outcomes from a range of partnerships that involve scientists working with schools. Through this, mathematics professionals and interested teachers are encouraged to develop a programme that meets the school’s needs.

“This enhances a range of very significant benefits for pupils. These include increasing engagement with learning and reasoning, increased interest, enjoyment, knowledge and confidence in mathematics,” Dr Mohamed noted.

Poor teaching methods

An education stakeholder, Mr Mwakumba Mwemezi, said the reason behind poor performance in mathematics is the poor teaching methods that teachers use to teach primary school pupils.

“Teachers teach like they are teaching university pupils, they don’t teach children based on their age. That makes the children miss the foundations for learning mathematics and makes them get bad results in their exams,” he said.

Mr Mwemezi added that in order to solve the problem, the teachers in that subject should be trained.

“We should not expect a quick change in the performance of pupils in that subject. We need enough and very smart teachers to change the trend.”

Mr Mwemezi said curricular changes will also help in improving the teaching environment for teachers and learning for students.