MZUZU-(MaraviPost)-The Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) exams results that MANEB released last week continue to receive a myriad of reactions in terms of quality and quantity.

This year’s MSCE results have been rated the poorest for the past nine years.

Asked why this is the case, Education Experts have bemoaned the government for not doing enough to upscale standards of education in the country.

Speaking during a media briefing on Friday in Lilongwe, Chairperson for Independent Schools Association of Malawi (ISAMA),Joseph Patel said the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and Malawi National Examination Board (MANEB) have to put their house in order to improve education in the country.

“When you ask them, how many subjects should the students take?  The Ministry will answer you: all the subjects are compulsory and yet MANEB will say, six major subjects are enough for a candidate to be awarded a certificate.”

“So, this is a conflicting message to both students and teachers and so it  is eroding skills of our students. That’s why we are saying a right message on the curriculum matrix is very helpful, ” said Patel.

On his part, an education activist, Limbani Nsapato, says abolition of Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) has contributed so much to this year’s poor performance of the candidates.

“The JCE was providing a checkpoint for students to know their performance. It also helped teachers to know if they inculcated required skills among the students, ” observed Nsapato.

Concurring with Nsapato, is an academician, Dr Steve Shara, who feels there is a need for replacement of the JCE exams.

“We are supposed to put another mechanism in place to ensure that it replaces JCE and probably that’s what has not happened. There’s need for continuous assessment going on in the classroom on weekly or monthly basis to check the progress of the learners, ” Shara said.

Out of 92, 867 candidates who wrote the exams this year, only 46, 771 have passed, representing 50.36 percent pass rate which is 13 percent lower than that of last year.

The Minister of Education, Dr William Susuwele Banda is on record to have admitted that the results are poorer because of the new curriculum that most teachers are not yet familiar with.