Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
A survey conducted in nine countries by Ministry of General Education with support from World Bank has revealed that education attainment in Zambia is low compared to other countries.
The Zambia Programme for International Students Assessment for Development (pisa-d) report has also revealed that only 5 percent of learners in Zambia achieve the minimum level of proficiency in reading and 2 percent in mathematics.
According to the findings, about 67 per cent of the grades 7 or 8 learners that participated in PISA in Zambia only about 48 percent of learners were on track or ahead of track in education.
Speaking during the launch of the PISA-D report in Lusaka, Ministry of General Education acting Permanent Secretary Peggy Chirwa says the us$60 million world bank supported Zambia Education Enhancement Project is being implemented with the view to improve education access and quality in the country.
Mrs. Chirwa is confident that the challenges observed in the report findings will be reduced once the project is fully implemented.
Speaking earlier, World Bank Country Manager, Ina Marlene Ruthenberg has noted the urgent need to investment in the education sector in order to improve the delivery of services to learners.
And Examinations Council Zambia Director, Micheal Chilala says the Zambian education system is gaining recognition in the Southern African Development Community as evidenced by the exportation of examinations to south africa last month.
The programme for international student assessment (pisa) is an international survey which aims at evaluating education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old learners.