SIGHTLY less than 43 per cent of candidates obtained division I to III in the past year’s secondary school leaving certificate exams, while the pass rate for Mathematics remained at around 26 per cent.

This summary is scatted in a report by the National Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) for the 2024 Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE) results, which admits that the Mathematics pass rate remains a significant challenge.

Dr Said Ally Mohamed, the NECTA executive secretary, said in announcing the results in Dar es Salaam yesterday, that the pass rate for Basic Mathematics remained far below average, standing at 25.35 percent.

Performance in Basic Mathematics has shown some improvement over the past decade he said, noting that the pass rate increased from 16.76 percent in 2015 to 25.35 percent in 2024.

Further efforts are required to improve teaching of the subject schools, he said, affirming that the pass rate for Basic Mathematics dipped by 0.07 percent while the score in Additional Mathematics, dropped by 2.70 percent compared to 2023.

 “The quality of performance in Basic Mathematics has decreased slightly by 1.04 percent,” he said, meanwhile as overall results showed that 477,262 out of 516,695 candidates, representing 92.37 percent, passed the exam with division I, II, III and IV.

In 2023, 471,427 candidates passed, which was 89.36 percent, marking a 3.01 percent increase in the pass rate in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Of the successful candidates, 249,078 were female (91.72 percent of female candidates) and 228,184 were male (93.08 percent of male candidates), he said.

Subjects such as Chemistry, Agriculture, Engineering Science, Information and Computer Studies, Additional Mathematics and Food and Human Nutrition recorded pass rates ranging from 93 percent to 100 percent.

The highest pass rate was recorded in Food and Human Nutrition, where all candidates passed, followed by Chemistry with a pass rate of 96.36 percent.

For Physics and Biology, pass rates ranged from 73.98 percent to 74.15 percent.

“The pass rates for Natural Sciences and Technology have improved by 0.22 percent to 8.07 percent,” he asserted, noting that there was wide ranging quality of performance in various subjects, Chemistry, Agriculture, Engineering Science, Information and Computer Studies, Additional Mathematics as well as Food and Human Nutrition were exceptional, with 64.52 percent to 97.88 percent of candidates achieving grades A to C, he stated.

The pass rate for Biology improved from 35.36 percent in 2023 to 40.04 percent in 2024, he said, highlighting that Kiswahili had a high pass rate of 97.43 percent, with 71.53 percent of candidates achieving grades A to C.

The pass rates for French and Arabic were lower, with results ranging from 13.34 percent to 26.10 percent, he pointed out

The number of candidates scoring Division IV and zero decreased, signalling an overall enhancement in academic performance, while pass rates for Civics, History and Geography ranged from 70.34 percent to 73.36 percent.

“Pass rates in Social Science subjects have increased by 2.51 percent to 10.16 percent compared to 2023. History saw a significant improvement of 10.16 percent, followed by Geography, which increased by 7.59 percent.”

For grades A to C, History had the highest performance in Social Science subjects, with 39.69 percent of candidates achieving these grades, the results indicated.

The pass rate for Commerce was 89.17 percent, while Book Keeping had a pass rate of 88.27 percent, with the pass rates for the subjects increasing by 8.15 percent and 9.65 percent respectively.

In terms of grades A to C, 50.98 percent of Commerce candidates and 54.98 percent of Book-Keeping candidates obtained the grades, he said.

The pass rate for Bible Knowledge was 99.08 percent, while Islamic Religious Education recorded 79.83 percent. The pass rate for Bible Knowledge increased by 0.43 percent, while the pass rate for Islamic Religious Education dropped by 1.99 percent compared to 2023, he stated.

The percentage of candidates achieving grades A to C in Bible Knowledge was 96.69 percent, while in Islamic Religious Education, it was 35.22 percent.

A total of 221,953 candidates, or 42.96 percent, achieved division I-III. In 2023, 197,426 candidates (37.42 percent) achieved division I-III, indicating an improvement of 5.54 percent compared to the previous year.

The quality of performance in division I-III was higher for boys than for girls, with 119,869 boys (48.90 percent) achieving division I-III, compared to 102,084 girls (37.59 percent).

Regarding school performance, of the 5,563 schools that registered candidates, 5,552 schools (99.80 percent) achieved an average grade of A-D, compared to 5,334 schools (99.83 percent) in 2023.

The number of schools achieving grades A-C increased by 7.45 percent, from 1,997 schools (37.38 percent) in 2023 to 2,494 schools (44.83 percent) in 2024.

The pass rate for independent candidates was 62.5 percent, with 15,703 candidates passing, an increase of 10.07 percent from 13,396 candidates (52.44 percent) in 2023.

A total of 15,185 registered candidates, whether school-based or private candidates, did not sit for exams, where 11,869 were school-based (2.24 percent), and 3,316 were private candidates (11.65 percent), he said.

Of the 529,329 school candidates registered, 517,460 (97.76 percent) sat for exams, including 271,918 girls (97.54 percent) and 245,542 boys (98.00 percent). Of the 28,467 private candidates registered, 25,151 (88.35 percent) participated, the results indicated.

NECTA had annulled the results of 67 candidates found to have engaged in malpractice, while the results of five candidates who wrote offensive language in their scripts were similarly cancelled.

A suspension was slapped on P6384 BSL Open School in Shinyanga from conducting future national exams due to involvement in exam malpractice, he said, underlining that the matter is currently in court.

A total of 459 candidates whose results were withheld due to various challenges, including health issues, will be allowed to retake their exams in 2025, he added.