Students sitting national exams
Unless otherwise, national exams for Primary School will be written in the next three weeks, followed by O’ Level, Senior Six, and Technical and Vocational Schools written exams.The exams will be celebrated especially for all students who had to wait for two years following suspension of schools to prevent more spread of COVID-19.
According to the National Examinations and Schools Inspection Authority (NESA), 254,678 PLE candidates enrolled compared to the 286,087 in 2019, representing an 11% decrease
PLE candidates will write exams for two days, from 12 July to 14 July 2021.
Kacyiru Primary pupils at national exams
Director-General of NESA, Bernard Bahati, said that when schools reopened in November 2020 after nearly ten months some students never returned to school due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“After the schools were reopened on 2 November 2020, some students didn’t report back,” Bahati said.
In March this year, Rubavu district located in Western province reported 2000 primary students who did not return to school.
“We should all work together to know where these children are. This is an assignment for every education partner,” Gilbert Habyarimana, the district mayor said.
Inmates during national exams
In the same period, Gicumbi district, Northern province reported 1,658 students who did not return to school. The district launched a campaign to track them.
“Some students thought that they have grown-up and could not go back to primary level; so they decided to quit,” Joseph Kagina, a primary teacher at Kambyeyi primary school, Kamoyi district, Southern province said.
Meanwhile, candidates in upper levels are also set to write their exams despite COVID-19 challenges.
The ordinary (O Level) will start exams on 20 July 2021, with 122,320 candidates compared to 119,932 candidates in 2019. The exams will go through 27 July 2021.
The O-level candidates comprise 67,685 girls and 54,635 boys. The total number of O-level candidates represents an increase of 2% compared to 2019 with 119,932 candidates.
The examination centers for the Ordinary level candidates also increased from 489 to 547.
In the Advanced level or senior six, there is also an increase of 1.7%, up to 52,145 (26,892 girls and 22,894 boys) from 52,291 in 2019.
However, there was a drop in science candidates from 15,251 in 2019 to 14,785, representing a difference of 3.1%.
For the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools, they kicked off with practical examinations from 14 June to July 3rd.
There are 22,910 TVET candidates this year, comprising 9,916 girls and 12,994 boys. They are writing examinations from 149 examination centers.
For the TVET candidates, there was an increase in the number of candidates also, with 3,084 candidates expected to write their final exams.
In addition, a total of 1,857 private candidates will sit advanced level exams, up from 1584 candidates in 2019, representing an increase of 17.2%.
