By Andrew Magombo.
Education expert Steven Shara has raised concerns about the consistent Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) pass rate, stating that it has little to no impact on achieving the long-term goals outlined in Agenda 2063.
Shara’s comments come in response to the latest MSCE results, which, according to the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) Executive Director, Dorothy Nampota, show a slight improvement.
In 2024, out of 177,434 students who sat for the exams, 97,222 passed, representing a 54.79% pass rate.
This marks a small increase from the 54.40% pass rate in 2023.
Despite the consistent pass rate, Shara pointed out that the same districts have been performing well year after year, while others consistently lag behind.
He noted that Zomba Urban continues to lead with a 69.7% pass rate, while Machinga remains the lowest performer at 47.3%.
“This trend has persisted for over a decade, which he says is alarming,” he said.
Shara emphasized that this stagnation has serious implications for achieving the goals set in Agenda 2063, which aims for a well-educated population and a skills revolution driven by science and technology.
He added that many underperforming students do not advance to higher education, leading to a growing number of school dropouts and missed opportunities for further development.
In his view, if this trend continues, Malawi will struggle to meet the educational benchmarks necessary for its long-term development goals.
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