Poverty, long distances to school, hunger and low interest in education are among the factors contributing to low examination pass rates in Matabeleland South, according to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
The ministry said the problem was more complex than teacher performance and required schools, communities and government to address several challenges affecting learners.
The Grade Seven pass rate in the province was about 35 percent in 2025, while the Ordinary Level pass rate was also 35 percent.
Taungana Ndoro, the ministry’s director of communications and advocacy, said the ministry was aware of the challenges and was working to identify the factors behind the province’s poor performance.
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“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is cognisant of the challenges of pass rates in Matabeleland South Province. However, we look at it as a challenge which we all have to face as the Republic of Zimbabwe, putting all our hands on deck, looking at all the features that may cause the low pass rates in Matabeleland South. Yes, some teachers may cause the underperforming of our pupils, but it’s multifaceted and a cocktail of issues that will probably need to be addressed,” Ndoro said.
He said financial difficulties, community problems, low morale and what he described as apathy towards schooling were among the issues affecting learners.
“There are issues to do with the finances, issues to do with the community, issues to do with the low morale, issues to do with the apathy in schooling. So it’s a multifaceted cocktail of issues that we have to consider when we are looking at the issues of pass rate. We are obviously trying to encourage all our pupils within Matabeleland South to love going to school, to enjoy going to school,” Ndoro said.
Ndoro said some children arrived at school after walking long distances and without having eaten, making it harder for them to learn.
“You have some children who come from poor backgrounds and they may be walking long distances to school. Some of them may even be arriving at school when they are hungry and they are on empty bellies. This is why the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, has managed to come up with the Homegrown School Feeding Programme, where we feed our pupils as they come to school, which then encourages those pupils to come to school and also to then get the best out of the effective teaching that may be taking place,” he said.
The ministry has also conducted research to identify districts with the lowest pass rates, with rural areas among those facing the greatest challenges, Ndoro said.
He said the ministry was considering factors including poverty, the financial difficulties faced by families and the distances learners travelled to school.
Ndoro said attitudes towards education were another concern, particularly in communities near the borders with Botswana and South Africa.
“We are looking at the issues of long distances that children may walk to school. We are looking at issues to do with apathy and then in particular to Matabeleland South province, we also look at issues to do with the fallacy that life is better in South Africa or that life is better in Botswana. So we have got a massive publicity drive to tell our children and our pupils, including parents in the community, that with a good education, with a sound education, life is always better in Zimbabwe and life can even be better in Botswana or in South Africa when you do have a sound education,” he said.
The ministry is using community fairs and roadshows to encourage learners to remain in school and complete their basic education, Ndoro said.
“We have got all our community fairs that we carry out. We’ve got roadshows that we carry out, encouraging children to come back to school, not just in Matabeleland South, but throughout the nation, such that when they have a solid education or basic education that is O-level, they are able to then translate their competencies into something that can assist them with their livelihood,” Ndoro said.
He said low pass rates were not confined to Matabeleland South, with districts in other provinces facing similar challenges, particularly in areas close to national borders.
“The issue of low pass rates is not unique to Matabeleland South in the country. We have, for instance, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central, which are also battling issues of low pass rates, including Mashonaland East. We’re looking at districts like Mudzi, Rushinga, Muzarabani, Hurungwe. We have challenges also in those districts, because they are in outlying areas and close to the border where most of our people then also cross the border to try and look for what they may think is a better livelihood,” Ndoro said.
Ndoro said education could improve people’s livelihood prospects both in Zimbabwe and for those seeking opportunities outside the country.
He said the government expected the heritage-based curriculum and other interventions to contribute to improved examination results.
“We expect that this year the grade 7 pass rate of about 50% is going to be massively surpassed because of the heritage-based curriculum, including the 35% pass rate, which has been the best pass rate for all levels since 1980. We expect that in this year it will also be surpassed very pleasingly. We are doing very well, extremely well in any level where our pass rate is hovering around 96% and we do not expect that we are going to go below that. In fact, we’re going to move much closer to 100%,” Ndoro said.
The ministry has also introduced catch-up programmes, school feeding and digital technology initiatives to improve learner performance, he said.
“We’ve got catch-up strategies, we’ve got school feeding programmes, we’ve got digital technology. We are becoming a transformative ministry in terms of the provision of quality education. Therefore, the issues of low pass rates, we see them as becoming a thing of the past within the foreseeable future. We are proud of the strides that we have made under the conditions that we have,” he said.
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