FEMALE candidates, who outperformed males in the 2023 Ordinary Level results released on Monday by the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (ZIMSEC), should be hailed for their excellence.
According to ZIMSEC, female candidates achieved a 30.1 percent pass rate as compared to the male pass rate of 29.08.
The same trend was also noticed in the 2023 Grade 7 results where female candidates outclassed their male counterparts.
Credit should go to our teachers, who are doing their best despite the challenges they face in the education sector.
It gives us hope that we should equip the girl child with resources to excel in class and invest a lot in their education.
Raising a girl child is not easy as they generally require more attention compared to their male counterparts.
Some girls in poor communities miss classes when they start their menstrual cycle.
Others have challenges to go to school as some parents prefer educating the male child in some communities.
However, the trend where the girl child was not afforded equal opportunities with boys appears to be coming to an end.
It’s quite pleasing to note that most parents are now giving both the girl and boy child equal opportunities.
And, the girls are responding to that with impressive results, as was the case in the 2023 Ordinary Level results released by ZIMSEC on Monday, to show that they fully deserve the support they are getting.
With Advanced Level classes beginning soon, we hope that all the children will access their results despite many still owing the schools where they wrote their exams.
ZIMSEC chiefs made it clear on Monday that no school should withhold results on the basis that some candidates owe the school.
The ZIMSEC chiefs made it clear that they have a special contract between them and the students which should not be breached by school authorities.
It is our hope that some of the girls who excelled in the 2023 Ordinary Level examinations will access their results with ease and proceed to Advanced Level.
We should not kill the girl child’s hopes of continuing with her education.
Parents must also work hard and clear their arrears on time to ensure the smooth running of our schools.
With cases of child marriages, and child rape on the increase, we should also keep the girl child busy and focused on her studies.
We should assist them to fulfil their dreams by sending them to school.
We don’t want the girls who excelled in the 2023 Ordinary Level exams to fail to continue with their education.
A change in mindset is needed to ensure that we keep the girl child busy all the time.
Failure to equip our children to realise their dreams is unacceptable in this era.
Gone are the days when girls were treated as if they were not equal to their male counterparts.
They are flexing their muscles and it’s a refreshing story.