A TOTAL of 188,787 students who met the criteria, including 812 with special needs, will join Form Five in various high schools and colleges in various fields in the wake of secondary school exam results recently.

Mohamed Mchengerwa, the Regional Administration and Local Governments state minister in the President's Office (PO-RALG) said at a press conference here yesterday.

Candidates registered to take the form four exam in 2023 stood at 572,359 where 310,248 are girls and 262,111 boys, with private candidates standing at 29,027 in all, being 17,126 girls and 11,901 boys, he said.

The quality of performance by looking at the grades shows that 197,426 candidates obtained Division I – III, a mild 0.47 percent improvement from 192,348 candidates falling in that range in 2022, he asserted.

All qualified students have found a place in schools and technical colleges in pursuit of current government policy in that sphere, he said, highlighting that students joining Form Five stand at 131,986 of whom 66,432 are girls and 65,554 boys.

They will be scattered in 622 advanced secondary schools including 82 new ones that start enrolling students this year, he said, where 1,462 students, being 669 girls and 793 boys, were assigned to eight specified secondary schools.

These are Kilakala, Mzumbe, Ilboru, Kisimiri, Msalato, Kibaha, Tabora Boys and Tabora Girls, marked out for engaging students with the highest scores, he stated.

Form Five day secondary schools will take up 6,576 students, namely 3,449 girls and 3,127 boys, while 123,948 students, with 62,636 girls and 61,312 boys, join Form Five national boarding secondary schools, he further noted.

A total of 56,801 students, with 17,332 girls and 39,469 boys, join various diploma courses and technical education colleges under the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NACTVET).

The Arusha Technical College (ATC), the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), the Mbeya University of Science and Technology (MUST) as well as the Water Development and Management Institute (WDMI) will share out 2,107 students, being 804 girls and 1,303 boys, he elaborated.

He said another 2,019 students including 1,011 girls and 1,008 boys have been selected to join health colleges at the Diploma level.

A hefty batch of 52,675 students including 15,717 girls and 37,158 boys join various courses including agriculture, animal husbandry, administration, business and various certificate courses in technical education colleges countrywide.

The first term for Form Five students starts on July 1, so all those selected need to have reported to school by June 30, with July 14 slated as final reporting day, he added.