Addis Abeba – The Ministry of Education (MoE) has announced the results of the Grade 12 national examination, revealing that 5.4% of students attained the minimum passing score of 50%. Of the 684,405 students who sat for the exam, 36,409 met the required threshold and are now eligible to enroll in universities. Approximately 8% of the students took the exams online.
A student from Kallamino School in the Tigray Regional State has secured the highest score in the 2024 Grade 12 national exit examination, achieving 675 out of 700.
According to Professor Berhanu Nega, Minister of Education, who briefed the media today, this accomplishment has been recorded as the top score in the Grade 12 national exam.
Among the cities, Addis Abeba achieved the highest pass rate, with 10,690 students passing the exam, representing 21.4% of all candidates who sat for the exam.
The highest score was recorded in the field of natural science courses. Among the 321,536 students who took the exam from the natural sciences 9 percent of scored more than 50 percent. Inversely only 2 percent of the 353,287 students who took the social science exam achieved a passing grade.
Most alarming is the numbers of schools that administered this year’s test and failed to have students pass the exams; the ministry said a staggering 1,363 schools failed to have students who scored the passing grade.
Nevertheless, all regional states, with the exception of Amhara regional state, succeeded in surpassing the number of students who scored above the average compared to last year, according to Berhanu, who explained that the lower number of students who passed the exam from the Amhara region was attributed to the fact that only half of the eligible students sat for the exam.
The Amhara region remains entrenched in a state of conflict, with ongoing clashes between the federal government and the non-state militia, Fano, affecting vital civilian activities including education.
Last year, nearly 97% of students failed to attain the minimum passing score of 50%.
Of the 845,000 students who took the exam, only 27,267 (3.2%) achieved the required score, making them eligible for university admission.
In contrast, an impressive 66.96% of Grade 12 students in Tigray who sat for the school leaving exams last year successfully scored 50% or above. AS