Secondary school students during a past national exam
It has been about two months now, since national examination markers finished the marking process. However, markers who are also teachers in secondary and primary schools say they have not received their wages and no explanation on the reason of delays.
“I don’t know who and where to ask from. We are many who marked national exams with this similar problem,” one of the teachers told Kigali today. com, our sister website.
Depending on the number of examination papers marked, he said that at least a marker is supposed to be paid between Rwf140,000 and Rwf180,000.
“The prices hikes on the market, and the academic year starting may tell you how much we needed this money. The main challenge is that there is no one who is ready to tell us why our money have been delayed to this extent and when we could be paid,” another teacher said.
Dr Bernard Bahati, Director General of National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) told KT journalist, that some national examination markers were paid and the rest, would also have their money paid soon.
Some reports indicate that delays are caused by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) which takes a long time to release the money.
Sam Ruburika, a communication specialist at MINECOFIN told Kigali today that teachers will receive their money “early next week.”
This year, a total of 14,800 teachers marked the national exams, and their wages are estimated to Rwf 4 Billion.
marking national exams in nutshell
When markers arrive at the marking centres, they first go through a harmonising exercise in which they sit for the same exam that students sat for. A marker must have a score of more than 60%, according to NESA. Those who go below the scores are suspended from the marking list.
Those who pass the exam, band together to create a marking guide, coming up with more alternate answers to exam questions to augment the ones offered by NESA.
Teachers who mark national exams operate in a “conveyor-belt system.” Each team consists of seven people: five markers who use red pens to read and score the assigned number of questions (usually 3 to 5); a checker who uses a pencil to check if the total marks indicated on the answer booklet is correct; and a team leader who uses a green pen to approve what both the markers and the checkers did.
The markers return the answer booklets to the envelopes after marking and inspecting them. The Chief Marker then confirms and agrees that everything is in order. They, like the markers and checkers, write their names on the reverse of the envelope, along with their phone number and signature.
The booklets are then delivered to designated recording studios. This is the point at which studio checkers reveal a student’s identity. Following that, they compile a list of pupils who took the national examination at a given school and fill in the marks they received in each subject. After the marking process, NESA prints these lists using its School Data Management System (SDMS) and finally announces the marks.
