Minister of Education Douglas Syakalima has disclosed that 154,373 Grade 7 candidates, representing 28.64 percent, failed the 2025 examinations and will not proceed to Grade 8.
Announcing the Grade 7 and Grade 9 examination results in Lusaka, Mr. Syakalima revealed that a total of 384,592 Grade 7 candidates passed the examinations after obtaining divisions one to three, representing a pass rate of 71.36 percent.
Mr. Syakalima said the performance represents a 0.17 percentage point improvement from the 71.19 percent recorded in 2024.
Of the 384,592 candidates who passed the examination, 201,362, representing 47.64% were boys, and 183,230 or 52.36% were girls.
“All the 384,592 candidates who passed the examination have been selected to form 1 in 2026. The progression rate in 2025 is therefore, 71.36 percent,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Minister disclosed that 206,357 candidates, representing 72.25 percent, obtained certificates at Grade 9 level out of the 285,634 candidates who sat the 2025 Junior Secondary School Leaving Examination.
He said the 2025 Grade 10 progression rate stands at 72.25 percent, an improvement from the 55.89 percent recorded in 2024.
Mr. Syakalima noted that the proportion of candidates obtaining certificates rose from 55.89 percent in 2024 to 72.25 percent in 2025, representing an increase of 16.36 percentage points.
He attributed the significant improvement in performance to the government’s policy decision to abolish automatic progression and allow only learners with the requisite competencies to proceed to secondary school, as well as various interventions and inputs implemented by the government and its partners.
“This good performance provides further support for the policy decision to abolish the grade nine examination, suggesting that learners who pass the primary school leaving examination have the competencies required to progress to secondary school and complete four years of learning before sitting the school certificate examination,” Mr. Syakalima said.
According to the Minister, a total of 6,956 candidates, representing 2.44 percent, failed the Grade 9 examination, with more boys affected than girls.
He said 3,772 boys, representing 2.77 percent, failed the examination compared to 3,184 girls, accounting for 2.13 percent.
“I am glad to inform the nation that, for another year running, no leakage of examination material was recorded for both examinations in 2025. further, during the conduct of the primary school leaving examination, no record of cases of suspected examination malpractice,” he said
