MARKING OF EXTERNAL EXAMS TO BE COMPLETE IN 3 WEEKS

MBABANE – Just a couple of days before Christmas, pupils who sat for external examinations can start speculating when their results might be released as marking will be completed in three weeks’ time.

This follows confirmation from the Registrar of the Exams Council of Swaziland, Dr Edmund Mazibuko, that marking of external examination papers will be concluded in about three weeks. Mazibuko said this during an interview yesterday. He said marking had started for Form V papers and some would be completed this week while others next week. He said the marking of Junior Certificate and Grade VII examination papers would start next week and was expected to take about two and a half weeks. If the Exams Council reaches its target, marking of all papers will be completed before Christmas and then it will be announced when results were likely to be released. Mazibuko shared that marking would take more than two weeks because of an increased number of candidates who sat for this year’s examinations. He explained that it took longer to mark papers of subjects done by all pupils than it did to mark those for subjects that were optional. The dates on which the results would be released remain unknown, however, last year, Grade VII results were released shortly after Christmas and soon after, Form III results were released.

“We still have not thought about releasing of results as our focus is on marking,” said Mazibuko. The marking of papers is done by teachers whose umbrella body is the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT). SNAT Secretary General Zwelithini Mndzebele could not confirm when the results were likely to be released as he stated that it was the Exams Council’s prerogative to determine that as well as other timelines. Mndzebele said he was aware that teachers started marking last week and would start marking other papers next week. Last year, the Ministry of Education and Training announced that 15 756 candidates sat for the JC examination where 12 839 candidates passed and 2 917 candidates failed. It was announced that the pass rate for 2016 was 81.49 per cent and analysis showed that 3.31 per cent passed in the merit category while 9.38 per cent passed in the First class category. Further analysis revealed that 59.19 per cent passed in second class category, 9.61 per cent passed in the third class category, and females were said to have outperformed males by 1.47 per cent.

Meanwhile, in the same year, 27 966 candidates sat for the 2016 SPC examination and 24 703 candidates passed the examination while 3 263 candidates failed. The pass rate was 88.33 per cent as 2.87 per cent passed in the merit category and 11.06 per cent passed in the First class category. The ministry revealed that 58.37 per cent passed in the second class category and 16.04 per cent passed in the third class category. Like in the JC examinations, females outperformed males but this time, by 0.76 per cent.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: