Performance of the 2018 Junior Certificate (JC) cohort is lower than that of 2017, as the total pass rate has decreased by four percent.
This was revealed by the Minister of Education and Training, Professor Ntoi Rapapa when announcing 2018 JC results on Monday. The ministry will release the 2018 JC results on Tuesday.
The Minister expressed his concern over the declining performance in English and Mathematics, saying due to this poor performance, the Ministry of Education and Training has made arrangements for candidates to re-sit examinations in Mathematics and English in June/July 2019.
He noted that 407 candidates obtained a First Class with Merit, the number which is higher in comparison with what was observed in 2017 by 0.2 percentage.
He said 1, 315 candidates acquired a First Class pass, which shows a decrease of 0.8 percentage compared to 2017 results.
Prof. Rapapa further mentioned that 10, 213 students obtained a Second Class pass, reflecting a 3.8 percentage decrease as compared to 2017 while 2, 673 candidates obtained a Third Class pass, commenting that this number has decreased by 0.2 percentage from the 2017 results.
He said 7, 700 students could not meet the minimum requirements for a pass, which is an increase of 4 percentage from the previous year.
The Minister said the total number of candidates who passed the 2018 JC examination is 14, 608 constituting 65.5 percentage, saying this shows that the 2018 performance has dropped by 4 percentage when compared to the results of 2017.
Prof. Rapapa however congratulated all candidates who succeeded in their examinations, singling out those in top three positions in the whole country and these include Thapelo Mocheko from Leqele High School and Ntsatsi Maseatile of Ts’akholo High School who both are in first position while Channaganu Sai Harshini of NUL International School, Leseli Lekhooa of Ts’akholo High School, Maleke Lebohang and Sepetla ‘Mampati of Leribe English Medium are in the second position and in third position are Matlosa Lisebo of Lesotho High School and Mokhele Katleho of St. Stephens High School.
The Minister therefore encouraged those who did not succeed to go back and try again, saying it is just a bend, not the end of the road.
The three best performing districts are Leribe with 68.6 percentage, Mohale’s Hoek with 68.3 percentage, and Butha-Buthe with 66.9 percentage, while Quthing is the least performing district with 45 percentage in position 10.
 
Source: LENA 07/01/2019