By NQOBANI NDLOVU PRIMARY and Secondary Education minister Cain Mathema has been ordered to present a report in Parliament explaining the poor pass rate registered during the 2020 Grade Seven final examinations. This was after statistics provided by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) revealed a 37,11% pass rate, down from 46,9% the previous year. National Assembly Speaker, Jacob Mudenda last Wednesday said Zimbabweans deserved an explanation from Mathema on the poor Grade Seven results through issuance of a ministerial statement in the House. Mudenda said this after Gokwe-Chireya MP Tonderayi Moyo (Zanu PF) had asked Mathema to explain the poor results. “The question is of great importance to our education system and it will be fair for the Primary and Secondary Education minister (Mathema) to come up with a ministerial statement to explain this low pass rate and also those schools where there have been a zero pass — and the reasons,” Mudenda said. Mathema was not present in the House, and Moyo had posed the question to Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe, who failed to respond to it. “We expect that statement next Tuesday. The nation deserves to know,” Mudenda said. Several schools in Matabeleland registered a 0% pass rate.
