Gap opens between fulltime and part-time Grade 12 students

A RECORD 3 629 of the 16 393 fulltime students who wrote the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate (NSSC) ordinary level exams last year have qualified for admission to the Polytechnic of Namibia and the University of Namibia.

The figure is based on the prerequisite requirement of a C-Grade at NSSC ordinary level and a Grade Three at NSSC higher level. Last year 3 256 pupils qualified.Part-time candidates were excluded because they build up subject credits over a number of years and usually meet university admission requirements only after a series of examinations.The Ministry of Basic Education said yesterday that 90,4 per cent of the 33 273 students who wrote the exams at 133 examination centres countrywide were graded compared to the 91,1 per cent graded in 2007.Thus the results, to be made public today, were slightly poorer than last year.Results of graded entries for both fulltime (92,7 per cent) and part-time candidates (83,2 per cent) dropped over the past year if compared to the previous year.However, the fulltime students who were graded obtained better grades than in 2007, the Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment said.’This improvement is visible over almost the whole grade range but was more significant at the intermediate grades (C, D and E) than at higher grades (A and B),’ the DNEA said.The statistics for fulltime candidates also showed a shift of the graded entries from the lower grades (F and G) to the intermediate (C, D and E) and higher grades (A and B).’This shift is an indication of a better performance by the fulltime candidates in 2008 if compared to 2007,’ the Ministry of Education said.On their part, the part-time candidates showed a drop in the percentages of graded entries at almost all grades.’This drop is significant at grades D, E and F where it is quite noticeable,’ the DNEA said.It said the improvement in the performance of the fulltime candidates was ‘almost eliminated in the combined results’ by the poor performance by the part-time candidates.However, at both levels the number of graded entries decreased.The majority of part-time candidates were registered with the Namibian College of Open Learning (Namcol).The results have been sent to the regional offices and schools.Schools will provide candidates with their results slips today, while the regional offices will display the results in broadsheet format at their offices.From 08h00 today the results will also be available on the directorate’s website (http://www.dnea.gov.na). – christof@namibian.com.na