The Director of Education in the Kavango East Region, Christine Shilima, says the region's performance in the 2024 national examinations is worrisome.
Kavango East will now be revisiting strategies aimed at restoring what was once considered one of the top-performing regions in the country.
In the 2022 national ordinary-level examinations, Kavango East outperformed all other regions to claim the top spot.
In 2023, the region dropped to second place, and in 2024, it slumped to number seven.
"We had 3,542 enrolled for the ordinary level, but then only 1,017 were graded C and above, meaning that the rest of the learners could not get the minimum C and above grades, so that is very worrisome. I am not satisfied because that is not what is expected from us when we are in these positions. We have a duty to perform. At least there should be an increase, even if you drop in terms of position."
In the 2023 national exams, ordinary level, three public schools in Kavango East made it to the top ten, with Rukonga Vision School at the top.
The 2024 exam results revealed that only one school from the region made it to the list.
"We also need to see to it that other public schools are also performing. I could not see any of our public schools featuring among the top five or the top 20. So that is worrisome. We need to see to it that this year, we improve on our strategies of how we supported our schools last year so we see to it that this year the schools are performing."
Shilima says the region will do everything it can to improve exam results, starting with filling vacant positions.
"We have got a vacuum of senior education officer positions. These are the staff members who are supposed to support the teachers in various subjects. We have quite a number of them that are still vacant. We have biology and life science, but no senior education officer. Math and physical science, physics, and chemistry, we do not have. History and geography. At the directorate level, it's to see to it that these positions are filled so that we can support the teachers."
Only 28% of candidates qualified for the AS level in Kavango East, compared to 35% in 2023.