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The name behind the number
At the briefing on 22 August the Minister gave the four highest results and the schools they came from, and named nobody. The social science figures he read were 576.2 for the leading boy and 569.1 for the leading girl. On 24 August the channel Ethiopian New curriculum Grade 9-12 published Sedem Abdulaziz's name and photograph against the same result.
The channel writes the score as 576, which is the Ministry's 576.2 rounded down. This page prints the Ministry's figure, because that is the one that was read out.
Ifa Boru Special Boarding School, Dodola
The school is one of the few details here that three separate sources agree on. The Ministry placed the 576.2 at Ifa Boru in Dodola, the channel names Dodola Ifa Boru Special Boarding School, and the crest on the pullover in the photograph reads Ifa Boru Boarding School. Dodola is in West Arsi in the Oromia Region.
Ifa Boru is a special boarding secondary school, the same kind of institution as Oda in Adama, where the year's highest result of all was scored. Three of the four results the Ministry read out came from schools outside Addis Ababa.
The claim that this is a first
The channel describes the result as a score no social science candidate has reached before in the history of the examination. That is worth reading carefully. The Ministry publishes the top results of the current year at its briefing, and it has not published a series of past top scores by stream, so there is no official record to check the claim against. Treat it as the channel's framing until someone publishes the earlier figures.
What the score is worth this year
A 576.2 is close to double what it takes to pass, and 23.8 marks below a perfect paper. The pass mark and the national totals are in 70,544 students passed the 2018 E.C. Grade 12 national exam.
The four highest results and their schools are in the highest Grade 12 scores of 2018 E.C.. The year's best result of all has also been named, in the highest score of the year belongs to Jalal Girma, and the 583 in natural science in the student behind the second-highest Grade 12 score. The national figures are in 70,544 students passed the 2018 E.C. Grade 12 national exam.
Sources
Every figure and date above comes from one of these. Open them; a story about your child's school is worth checking.