Over 54,000 get Form 5 places in public schools

Source@camfed.org

Some 54,085 candidates who sat their Form Four national examination in 2013 have received the green light to proceed to Form Five. Another 17,442 candidates will have to settle for technical schools despite having the right qualifications.

According to a list released yesterday, successful candidates represent 75.61 per cent of the 71,527 candidates who were eligible for selection. Despite the high number of the candidates locked out of Form Five, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government), said the transition rate has risen by 20,402 more candidates this year. Last year, the deputy minister said, only 33,683 candidates who sat and passed the Form Four examinations in 2012 were accommodated. “The Form Five students who have been selected this year will join 241 high schools across the country,” Mr Majaliwa said at a press conference in Dar es Salaam. “Of these, 33 are enrolling in such a class for the first time.”

In order to be selected, students had to have matching or required subject combinations and should have attained grades from Division I to Division III.

Of those selected, 31,352 were male and 22,733 were female. Of the males, 14,826 will pursue pure sciences while 16,526 will pursue social science subjects. The minister said 7,859 female students have been selected to study pure sciences combinations and the other 14,874 will take social science.

Selection was made from both public and private O-level schools. The students are expected to report on July 10, with the deputy minister warning that those who do not show up within 20 days would be disqualified and the chance passed on to the next candidate in line.

In the technical education section, 472 candidates--355 boys and 117 girls--were selected. This is a slight drop from last year’s college enrollment of 530.

Mr Majaliwa attributed this drop to the fact that some of these institutions are now offering bachelor’s degrees and this has reduced the intake at the lower level. Four hundred candidates of those dropped had mismatched combinations and there was no room for over 16,000.

The Government has launched an empowerment programme, which allows students who would like to study for education diplomas to go on to Form Five and Six in order to create a critical pool of teachers, who are in great demand. “Those with Division I taking science subjects will be directly sponsored by the government and those who scored Division II and III will get government loans,” the deputy minister said.

Written By Nuzulack Dausen ,The Citizen Correspondent

Source@TheCitizen