Dr. Bernard Bahati, Director-General of NESA
National examination grading system has undergone certain changes, following new directives from the Ministry of Education and National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA).
With a new grading system from PLE, O level and advanced level, the well-known Grade value “one” is no longer the highest. The highest is now grade value “six”. A student can score in each subject, and the lowest being grade value “0” which wasn’t there before. Initially, lowest grades were characterized by the letter “F” which stands for “failure.”
For example, in Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) total aggregate will be 30 instead of aggregate 5 in the existing grading. In this case a candidate needs to score six, in each subject to raise a total aggregate of 30 in five subjects Including Mathematics, Social and Religious Studies, Science and Elementary Technology, Kinyarwanda and English.
“The grading system is supposed to clearly inform parents and students about performance. It is a basis for decision for parents and students. The former wasn’t giving full details about a student performance. The new system gives all information,” Dr. Bernard Bahati, Director-General of NESA told KT Press.
For the Ordinary, or O level all nine subjects are compulsory and will be counted and the best candidate will score a total aggregate of 54, equivalent to 6 marks in nine subjects.
Initially, examiners counted eight subjects that a candidate scored well and eliminated one with the lowest grade value.
The new grading boundaries for national examinations core subjects have been established as follows; from 70 to 100% marks is described as “Excellent” with a letter grade “A” and Grade Value “6” for each subject.
From 65 to 69% is described as “Very Good” with a letter grade “B” and Grade Value “5”. From 60 to 64% marks is described as “Good” with a letter grade “C” and Grade Value “4”.
The marks ranging from 50 to 59% is described as “Satisfactory” with a letter grade “D” and Grade Value “3”.
Scores from 40 to 49% is described as “Adequate” with a letter grade “E” and Grade Value “2”.
The scores from 20 to 39% is described as “fair” with a letter grade “S” and Grade Value “1” and from 0 to 19% is described as “Fail” with a letter grade “F” and Grade Value “0”.
According to Dr. Bahati, for advanced Level or senior six, the highest total aggregate has changed t0 60 whether for general education, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) or Teacher’s Training Colleges (TTC).
This was calculated in terms of value of every subject across all combinations.
For subsidiary subjects in Advanced level: from 40 to 100% is described as “Fair” with a letter grade “S” and Grade value “1” and from 0 to 39% is described as “Fail” with a letter grade “F” and Grade Value “0”.
Meanwhile, the grading system of divisions has been removed.
