Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Unity State overcame all the hurdles to top this year’s Certificate of Primary Examination (CPE).
Unity, which has been affected by flooding since 2020, emerged as the best-performing state with 79.9 percent in the results released yesterday by the ministry of education and general instruction.
Unity beat Jonglei, which topped the national last year, with Warrap coming in third at 75.2 percent and 74.6 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, Ruweng Administrative Area and Upper Nile State scored least with 62.9 percent and 56 percent, respectively.
The result once again left Central Equatoria in general and Juba in particular still chasing shadows despite enjoying relative peace and infrastructural development, despite the CES producing the best female student.
Agok Thuch Mading from Alpha Junior Academy Primary School emerged as the best pupil, scoring a total of 438. He was followed by Adut Lual Awuol from Venus Star Academy with 437 marks.
According to NEC, social studies was the best-performing subject, followed by science, English, and mathematics, while Islamic Religious Studies (IRS) was ranked the worst-performing subject.
Deputy Minister of General Education and Instruction, Martin Toka, said this year’s performance was affected by the flood.
“There were many reasons…the displacement of people by natural disasters like floods, and other circumstances…that contributed to the poor performance.” Toka said.
There was also a significant drop in performance in the sciences.
“Last year, we had students who performed well in mathematics, which was the best-performing subject, but this year it dropped,” added Toka.
There were also a few cases of exam malpractice, though the ministry said they tightened the grip to avert widespread exam cheating.
Despite the teething problems facing the education sector, like the lack of enough qualified teachers, a significant number of students still managed to write the exams.
For example, some of the candidates who had enrolled in Islamic Studies decided to sit for Christian Religious Education in order to earn a certificate, the ministry said.
Out of the 60831 candidates who registered for the primary examinations in 2022, a total of 59759 out of the 60831 candidates who registered for exams managed to successfully complete the papers. There were 29117 boys and 30642 girls.
The ministry also cited poor remuneration for teachers (before the new salary structure was agreed) as among other factors that contributed to the performance.
Most teachers in public or government schools sometimes go for up to six months without salaries.
Last year, the NEC released the 2021 primary examination results, with Jonglei State dominating the top 10 performing pupils.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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