Only 33% qualify for tertiary institutions

OUT of more than 27,000 grade 12 students who applied for places in tertiary institutions this year, only around 9,300 have been accepted, it has been revealed.

Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Secretary Fr Jan Czuba blamed the poor grades on the Covid-19 which forced disruption to the school year.

He said there would be disappointments because out of the 27,143 students who applied, only 9,371 met the requirement of higher learning institutions.

The Covid-19 had a huge impact on the students’ academic performances and many of them did not achieve the required Grade Points Average (GPA) so most (missed out).

He said it was unfortunate that students’ school work had to be disrupted because of the Covid-19 resulting in the disappointing academic performance.

We should be able to accommodate more than 12,000 students but unfortunately the Covid-19 compromised the academic year, compromised the marks students received.

There will be students, parents who will be disappointed. But I want to send one message – the selection is transparent, it’s based on merit, to make necessary changes into the choices, to make sure that when students apply, (they) can be selected because (they are) meeting all the requirements.

Meanwhile, a national online application system outreach was conducted by the department to assess Grade 12 students support and awareness.

Teams of officials travelled to the four regions to visit secondary schools and explain the system, its timeline, how to make choices and where to find the programme descriptions and requirements.

Despite the Covid-19 restrictions and other logistical challenges, the department was able to carry out the outreach successfully.