Executive director Sanet Steenkamp said in a statement on Thursday that the National Examinations, Assessment and Certification Board resolved on May 12 to relax the pass mark for learners in Grades 1 to 9 from 40% to 35% for the 2020 academic year only.

The new promotion requirements are applicable to all government and private schools that are registered with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture and which offer the Namibian curriculum.

To deviate from the new requirement, written permission has to be obtained from the executive director, she said.

According to the statement, the new curriculum intends to provide the standard for learning progression without repetition during the Grade 1 to Grade 9 years of schooling.

Should it happen that a learner does not attain the grade level expectation and the class teacher for Grades 1 to 3 (or subject teachers for Grades 4 to 9), in consultation with the promotion committee, is absolutely convinced that a learner would not benefit from progressing to the next grade, such a learner should repeat that grade. 

A learner may only repeat twice in junior primary phase, twice in the senior primary and once in junior secondary phase. Learners who do not progress to the next grade must receive counselling to help them understand their situation and must receive learning support focusing on the competencies or objectives which they did not achieve.

All public and private schools closed on March 16 following the confirmation of the first two Covid-19 cases in the country.

Namibia adopted a phased approach to restart face-to-face classroom teaching. Grades 11 and 12 resumed on June 3.

The Grade 3 learners were expected to report to school on June 22 in the second phase of school reopening. Phase three would be Grades 7 and 9 on July 6. The remaining grades would return on July 20.

The academic year was planned to end on December 18.

African News Agency (ANA)