Malawi National Examination Board (MANEB) in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), has released 2019 Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education Examination (PSLCE) results with 77.46 per cent pass rate.

This is a slight drop compared to 2018 when out of the 279,084 candidates who sat for the examinations, 210,324 passed, representing a 79.39 percent pass rate

Briefing journalists in Blantyre on Monday, Minister of Education, Science and Technology, William Susuwele Banda said out of 282,428 candidates who sat for this year’s examination, 218,756 have qualified for Primary School Leaving Certificate with 82,072 selected to start form one in various secondary schools.

Out of 137, 270 female candidates who sat for the examination, 99,042 have passed while 145,158 male candidates who wrote the examination, 119, 7l4 have passed, representing 72.15 and 82.47 per cent pass rate respectively.

For special needs candidates, out of 1,889 candidates who sat for examination, 1,267 have passed, representing 67.14 per cent pass rate.

“However, the results of 283 candidates have been withheld pending investigations for contravening MANEB regulations.

MANEB Director of Examinations Administration, Gerson Mutala Phiri said PSLCE results were valid as the board instituted tight security during all stages of the examination.

“We engaged different stakeholders, including security agencies to step up security during production, delivery, marking and processing examination. As such, we never had any leakage of examinations,” he said.

Based on the results, Faith Mhanda from Mkanda Primary School in Mulanje, has emerged the best candidate this year with Natiswe Primary School in Dedza scooping number one examination centre with best results in terms of summation of A and B grades.

Phalombe has been ranked number one district, according to this year’s examination results performance.