The provisional results were released by the Ministry of Education, Heritage, and Arts yesterday.

This is nine per cent less of the pass rate recorded in 2020.

Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts Premila Kumar announced that 8123 students sat for the 2021 examination this year. A number of 8928 Year 13 students were initially on the record to sit for their Year 13 exams this year.

Mrs Kumar said: “The 2021 school year was far from normal. First was the seven months of school closure for students because of the delta virus, then TC Cody and the rain and floods and the Omicron variant. I take my hat off to students who didn’t lose focus and continued with their studies remotely and then later face to face classes.”

She said 65 students had applied for compassionate assessments and the ministry was assessing these applications.

She added the provisional results would allow a 30-day window where students can ask for either a recount or remark if they were not satisfied with their marks.

“This year students missed a huge amount of classroom learning but they continued with home studies with parents and teachers. This means when faced with challenges of not knowing what to expect in the exams, students ensured they studied hard and prepared well.

“This shows our students’ resilience and determination being able to perform during unprecedented times.”

Girls ‘outperform boys’

Mrs Kumar said while the results were provisional, they had identified five students who had scored the top marks in the examination.

She said four of them were girls.

“While the world has been worried about the attrition rate and some countries have experienced an attrition rate up to 25 per cent, the average attrition rate in our Year 13 was 11 per cent, an increase of three per cent compared to previous years.

“It is noteworthy that attrition rates of girls were lower than boys. Once again our girls have outperformed the boys. I am extremely proud of our girls.”

Schools from the various divisions who scored the highest pass rates:

• Macuata and Bua Division: Duavata Secondary School – 100 per cent pass rate
• Suva: Yat Sen Secondary School – 100 per cent pass rate
• Lautoka/Yasawa- Central College Lautoka – 99 per cent pass rate
• Ba/Tavua: Balata High School – 96 per cent pass rate
• Nadroga/Navosa: Lomawai Secondary School – 96 per cent pass rate
• Nausori: ACS – 92 per cent pass rate
• Eastern: Yasayasa Moala College – 92 per cent pass rate
• Cakaudrove: Taveuni South Secondary School – 91 per cent pass rate
• Ra: Navesau Adventist High School – 86 per cent pass rate

She added that it was impressive to see rural schools outperform the better commonly known urban schools that are better resourced.

“These means that financial resources don’t really bring the best out in the students,” she said.

“What is important is the partnership between the teachers, head of schools, management, parents and other stakeholders.”

She also encouraged those who had failed their exams not to be disheartened.

“TVET is a viable option for a career, this year the Government has allocated 5000 awards for TVET studies at FNU This is not the end of your education,” she said.