By JULIUS PHIRI and  NAKUBIANA SHABONGO –
A Grade 12 school leaver of Katete District in Eastern Province has committed suicide after learning that he failed Grade 12 examinations.
Phil Phiri of Chibolya Township whose age has not been ascertained by police committed suicide by hanging himself in the house using a belt.
Eastern Province Police Deputy Commissioner Hudson Namachila said Phiri hanged himself on Sunday between 03:00 hours to 06:00 hours.
The deceased who checked his Grade 12 results via mobile phone facility committed suicide the moment he knew his his fate.
“He hanged himself using a belt and he was found dead between 03:00 hours and 06:00 hours on February 2015 after learning that he had failed the grade twelve results,” he said.
Mr Namachila said the deceased’s body was lying in the St Francis Hospital Mortuary, adding that police did not suspect any foul play in the matter.
Meanwhile, various teacher unions have attributed the decline in pass rate for 7, 9 and 12  for the year 2014 to the poor teacher pupil ratio, low teacher motivation and inadequate learning and teaching materials among other factors.
Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ) General Secretary Jeffrey Simuntala said although Government had a good agenda to upgrade infrastructure in the education sector, a lot needed to be done to improve the pass rate in grades 7, 9 and 12.
There was urgent need for Government to ensure schools around the country had sufficient learning and teaching materials for positive impact.
He said less teaching and learning materials hindered the provision of quality education and implored Government to promptly look into the matter.
“This challenge is acute in our rural community where they are less labs or no labs and apparatus for our pupils. Another factor is we have few teachers of Mathematics and Science were most pupils do not do well this area also needs attention,” he said.
Secondary School Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) Deputy General Secretary Emmanuel Zulu attributed poor teacher motivation as a contributing factor to the reduction of results pass rate.
Mr Zulu said teachers needed to be motivated in order for them to fully deliver.
He said the country lagged behind with regard to professional development that needed to be addressed and suggested that Government considered realigning salaries of more qualified teachers by awarding them with standard and suitable ones.
The Profession Teachers Union of Zambia (PROTUZ) secretary general, Albert Muyembe said the teacher to pupil ratio played a role in the decline.
Mr Muyembe said the over enrolling pupils in urban areas had a negative impact as one teacher could not sufficiently accommodate over 70 pupils.