The Ethiopian Ministry of Education has said out of 896, 520 students who sat for the National School Leaving Examination for 2021-22 acadamic year, only 29,909 scored above 50 percent.Briefing journalists Minister of Education Berhanu Nega on Friday said only 3.3 percent of the total students who sat for 12 national exam managed to score 350 and more.

 “This shocking result” is a cumulative outcome of the challenges and corrupt practices that the education and assessment systems went through for a long period of time, the minister said.

It also shows the current status of the country’s education system and its problems, the minister added.

The Ministry of Education is resolute to stick with the strict procedures put in place to fight cheating last year.

According to Birhanu, the strict exam administration method, including the relocation of exam centers, is the first step to remedying the problems in the education system.

 The poor results are particularly prevalent among close to the 557, 000 Social Sciences students who sat in the exam.

 Only 1.9% or 6, 973 students have managed to score 50% and above, the result analysis reveals.

In the natural sciences stream, close to 340, 000 students took the exam in 6 subjects.

A total of 22, 936 students, or 8.6 percent, have managed to get 50% and more points.