Class of 2021 shines

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Class of 2021 shines
Class of 2021 shines

Africa-Press – Namibia. SHELLEYGAN PETERSEN and MERCY KARUUOMBE

MORE than 50% of the first Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level examination candidates of 2021 achieved grades between A and C, while only 7,7% of the pupils were ungraded.

Some 39,8% of matriculants obtained D and E gradings.

This is out of the 5 007 candidates who wrote the AS level last year, which include 4 592 at 88 public schools and 415 at 14 private schools.

“This is the sound picture that any education system expects to see, and one the ministry must not just strive towards, but work very hard to improve over the years,” said minister of education, arts and culture Anna Nghipondoka as she announced the results yesterday morning.

Overall, 75,7% of the 5 004 candidates scored between an A and a D symbol in the examinations. In the science field, 73,6% of pupils scored between an A and a D symbol.

This field includes mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, agricultural science, and computer science. Only 10,5 % of the candidates were ungraded in this field nationally.

Similarly, in the commerce subjects, 65,2% of the candidates obtained a D and better grades.

Commerce subjects include accounting, business studies, economics and entrepreneurship. Only 12,5 % of candidates went ungraded in this field nationally.

“More symbols are obtained at the A to C side, with the peak at C grade,” Nghipondoka said.

For English, 75,7% of pupils scored a D and better, with 8,7% rated as ungraded, while in Afrikaans, 96,2% of the candidates got a D and better.

Both of these are second languages.

“The performance on the 12 first languages were good with KhoeKhoegowab, German, Rukwangali, Rumanyo, Silozi and Thimbukushu scoring higher than 90% cumulatively at D and better grades.

“The remaining six subjects scored below 90%, with the lowest being Oshindonga, scoring 57,8% for D and better grades,” the minister said.

TOP 10

The top-three performers for 2021 are Jada Izaks from St Paul’s College, who ranked as number one, Chika Libuku, also from St Paul’s College, who ranked as number two, and Ndateelela Ndjamba from Gabriel Taapopi Senior Secondary School, who ranked third best.

Edugate Academy’s Mellisa Nel ranked number four, followed by Patrick Tenga from Elcin Nkurenkuru in fifth place, followed by Onawa Senior Secondary School’s Paavo Ghikevali. Seventh position was taken by Ando Amunkete from St Paul’s College, and in eighth position is Windhoek High School’s Griffith Bezuidenhoudt.

Tuli-Meameno Shatona from Gabriel Taapopi took ninth position, followed by Magdel van Der Merwe from Windhoek Gymnasium as number 10.

LOW EXAM TURNOUT

Only 88 public and 14 private schools sat for the AS level examinations for 2021.

According to the 15th-day report of 2020, the country has 1 920 schools.

This means pupils of only 5,3% of schools in Namibia wrote the AS level examinations.

Before the introduction of the AS level, Nghipondoka said about 90% of schools limited themselves to only offer ordinary level, while depriving learners of the opportunity to take on higher levels.

The government introduced the AS certificate to increase access to international universities and to better prepare pupils for the pressure and academic stresses of tertiary studies.

“The aim of the Advanced Subsidiary curriculum is to expose and prepare the candidates with in-depth subject knowledge, high-order thinking and analytical skills, and ultimately to prepare them to become better first-year university students,” Nghipondoka said.

The requirement, however, for the Grade 12 AS class is that candidates must have obtained a C grade or better in subjects offered at ordinary level.

LATE SUBMISSION

Nghipondoka said the ministry informed the Universities South Africa federation (USAf) to ask their members to give Namibian pupils time to receive their results.

The USAf represents all 26 of South Africa’s public universities.

“We communicated through the USAf, which confirmed that they told all the universities to wait for Namibia’s results. This was meant for 14 to 18 February,” she said.

The ministry earlier indicated it would release the results between 14 and 18 February.

“But now we released it earlier, and we do not really expect challenges with pupils,” she said.

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