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The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) has released the 2025 Grade 7 examination results, revealing a slight fall in the national pass rate despite a growth in the number of pupils who sat for the exams. Girls continued their long-standing trend of outperforming boys across all subjects.
ZIMSEC board chairperson Professor Paul Mapfumo, who announced the results on Thursday, said candidates can access their results online through the ZIMSEC portal until Monday. Thereafter, learners will need to collect printed statements from their respective schools. School heads have been instructed to begin collecting hard-copy results from regional ZIMSEC offices at the start of next week.
This year, 395,090 candidates wrote the examinations — a modest increase of nearly 2% compared to 2024. However, the national pass rate fell marginally to 48.49%, down from last year’s 49.01%.
Despite the slight decline, performance across individual subjects remained relatively strong. All subjects recorded pass rates above the 50% mark, with indigenous languages topping the list. Shona and Ndebele recorded pass rates above 83%, while Physical Education and Arts followed at 78.59%. Social Science achieved 63.81%, Agriculture, Science and Technology 57.93%, and English 56.29%. Other indigenous languages posted pass rates ranging between 65.08% and 77.06%.
Girls once again took the lead, with more than half of the 201,842 female candidates — 53.64% — passing all six subjects. By contrast, 43.06% of boys attained full passes, with 81,698 meeting the grade-wide benchmark.
Learners with special needs also recorded notable progress. A total of 391 candidates with special needs sat for the examinations, marking a nearly 16% rise from last year. Of the 230 who attempted all six subjects, 101 passed, pushing their overall pass rate to 43.91% — a significant improvement from 37.19% in 2024.
Prof Mapfumo commended educators, markers, ZIMSEC staff and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education for their roles in safeguarding the integrity and quality of the examinations.
The publication of the 2025 results marks the end of the primary education cycle for this year’s cohort, who will now turn their attention to transitioning into secondary school in the upcoming academic year.
