The Ministry of Education has asked private candidates centres to give adequate coaching to their candidates to improve their performance in national examinations.

The education minister Dr Vincent Biruta made the remarks yesterday while releasing results of last year’s Rwanda Advanced Certificate of Education (S6) exams, which showed dismal performance among private candidates.

Out of 1250 private candidates who  sat the exams in 2013 only 543 passed compared to 2012, when 2,799 passed out of the  3850 candidates who sat for exams.

 Biruta said private candidates can pass if given adequate teaching and facilities.

"We hope that the candidates and coaching centres that failed will make it next time,” he said.

However, a director of a coaching centres  in Kigali attributed the failure to lack of concentration, saying most private candidates have no time to study since they have other responsibilities.

Last year, the ministry of education tightened control of coaching centres, requiring them to register candidates for Rwanda Advanced Certificate of Education after one year of study.

The ministry also wants coaching centres to operate in private premises instead of public school premises. The decision affected more than 13 centres which closed for over four months, which they say, affected their candidates’ performance.

Biruta noted that  the number of private candidates will decrease because many people can now register and study for free under twelve year basic education schools.