GCE Results Are In, Failure Rate Increases to 13.66%

Minister of Education Douglas Syakalima has revealed that a total of 16,690 candidates out of the 124,171 that sat for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) this year have failed the examination. 

This amounts to a national failure rate of 13.66%, which Mr. Syakalima added represents an increase from the 2020 figure of 10.5%.

It is important to note that this year was the first in which the Examinations Council of Zambia (ECZ) has put in place the amended rules for the awarding of a GCE. 

Speaking at a media briefing on the morning of 4th November, the Minister explained that under the new rules and conditions, GCE Certificates would only be awarded to candidates whose subjects and grades meet the standard of the award of the school certificate. 

So in a breakdown of this year’s results, it was shown that only 4,496 out of the aforementioned 124,171 candidates examined this year managed to obtain GCE certificates, which are now equivalent to school certificates

Mr. Syakalima further announced that 102,715 candidates, representing 82.7%, managed to obtain a GCE statement of results. These candidates are considered to have passed, but they did not quite make the grade to obtain a GCE certificate. 

The Minister also offered a demographical breakdown of the statistics from this year’s results: of the 39,323 males that sat the examination, 1,618 achieved GCE certificates. Meanwhile, of the 84,848 females, 2,878 managed to earn a certificate. 

It was also noted that Eastern Province recorded the highest absenteeism rate at 8.40% while Western Province recorded the lowest absenteeism rate at 4.37%.

Syakalima concluded his briefing by saying, “Let me commend the ECZ for conducting credible examinations amidst the outbreak of Covid-19 and the general elections that were held”, rightly acknowledging the exceptional circumstances under which these exams were conducted.