By FLAVIOR KANUNGO
GOVERNMENT has bemoaned the poor performance of pupils in natural science subjects at all levels of education and called for the interrogation of the automatic progress policy of pupils.
General Education Minister Dennis Wanchinga said this yesterday when he announced the 2020 Grade 12 school certificate examination results with pupils recording 63.93 percent pass rate.
Dr Wanchinga said yesterday that 147, 055 pupils sat for examinations out of which 76, 324 were boys representing 51.9 percent while 70, 731 were girls representing 48.09 percent.
Dr Wanchinga said despite more boys sitting for examinations, their performance was poor compared to that of the girls.
He said of those who sat for the examinations, 94, 010 obtained full School Certificates, 49, 032 obtained GCE certificate and 4,013 failed the examination.
Meanwhile, Dr Wanchinga said the highest score was recorded in designing and technology while the lowest score was recorded in science, mathematics, food and nutrition and History among other natural and social sciences.
And Examination Council of Zambia director Michael Chilala said the marking of the 2020 Grade 12 examinations was done under difficult conditions with most makers testing positive for Covid-19.
Mr Chilala is happy that the country has continued to run leakage free examinations despite the numerous challenges faced.
