The Ministry of Education will this afternoon release last year’s results for the Primary Leaving and Ordinary Level examinations.

A statement from the ministry said the results will be released today afternoon at the Rwanda Education Board offices in Remera, Kigali.

An estimated 170,000 candidates sat Primary Leaving Examinations last year while 96,000 candidates sat the O’ Level examinations.

The number of candidates who  sat P6 reduced by two per cent last year, compared to 2012.

The Minister for Education, Vincent Biruta, linked the decrease to reduced birth rate over the last couple of years.

Innocent Bakundukize, a parent from Burore Primary School, Rusizi District said he is eager to receive the results of his child who  sat for PLE last year.

"I am expecting good results. I did my best to help my child,” Bakundukize said.

There might also be a decrease in the number of students who missed the examinations compared to the year 2012, thanks to the ministry’s warning against barring academically weak candidates from sitting exams.

And, following a new directive requiring students to produce Senior Three certificate to register for A’ Level examinations, a number of students from Senior Four, Five and Six were compelled to sit for the O’ Level exams last year.

Emmanuel Muvunyi, the Rwanda Education Board (REB) deputy director in charge of examinations and accreditation, said an estimated 5,600 students fall under this category.

Examination malpractices were minimal in 2013 due to tougher measures adopted by Reb, officials say.

In 2012, over 83 per cent of the students who sat PLE examinations passed, with the Eastern Province emerging the best.

Out of the top ten performing pupils, nine were from private boarding schools in the East, with five of them coming from Life Academy, in Kayonza District.

At O’ Level, over 84 per cent  of the students passed the examinations, with the girls performing slightly better than the boys (51 per cent versus 49 per cent).

Female candidates generally performed better than boys at both O’ Level and PLE in 2012.

The Nine Year Basic Education candidates last year sat exams for the second time.