Despite the country registering the highest number of students selected to public universities this year, education experts have called on government to maximize its efforts on the selection process.

According to education expert Dr Steve Sharra, the number is still low compared to last year, as 14,083 were eligible and 7,410 were selected representing 53 percent.

Dr. Sharra says government should put in place a lot of interventions noting that the country is still lagging behind in its tertiary enrollment rate which stands at 2.5 percent.

“Our 2030 agenda, we want to reach the lower-middle income status and if you look at the tertiary enrollment rate for countries in that category is 25%. So, for us to move from 2.5% to 25% in seven years, it means we should be moving at a much more rapid pace,” he said.

On the other hand, board chairperson for Civil Society Education Coalition Dr Limbani Nsapato has bemoaned that a lot of disadvantaged students such as those from Community Day Secondary Schools and females have been left out in this year’s selection.

This year, among the selected, 5,106 are male and 3,446 are female representing a gender parity of 59.7% male and 40.3% female.

“Seventy percent of students in Secondary Schools are from CDSS and to see that they are underrepresented in the selection just shows that students from disadvantaged background are left out,” he said.

He adds, “There is need to do more for the country to ensure that access to tertiary education is expanded.”

The National Council for Higher Education NCHE received 19,760 applications of which 18,471 were eligible. 8,552 students have been selected to different public universities representing 46.3 percent.