Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education has announced that out of the total 896,520 students who took the national school leaving examination last Ethiopian academic year, only 29,909 passed the exam scoring above 50 percent.
Briefing reporters on Friday those students who passed the exam make up only 3.3 percent of the total students who sat for the 2021/22 grade 12 national exam managed to score 350 and more.
“This shocking result” is a cumulative outcome of the challenges and corrupt practices that the education and assessment systems went through for a long period of time, the minister said.
It also shows the current status of the country’s education system and its problems, the minister added.
The Ministry of Education is resolute to stick with the strict procedures put in place to fight cheating last year.
According to Birhanu, the strict exam administration method, including the relocation of exam centers, is the first step to remedying the problems in the education system.
The poor results are particularly prevalent among close to the 557, 000 Social Sciences students who sat in the exam.
Only 1.9% or 6, 973 students have managed to score 50 percent and above, the result analysis reveals, said the minister.
In the natural sciences stream, close to 340, 000 students took the exam in 6 subjects.
A total of 22, 936 students, or 8.6 percent, have managed to get 50 percent and more points.
According to the Education, Assessment and Examinations Service (EAES) only 10 students have managed to get 500 or more points in the natural sciences, whereas 263 social science students got 600 or more.
