Girls have out-shined boys in the 2015 senior six national leaving examinations according to the results released yesterday by the Ministry of Education.

Girls recorded a pass rate of 51.9 per cent while boys recorded 48.1 per cent.

Out of the 42,118 who sat the national exam, 37,558 students (89 per cent) passed and qualified for the Rwanda advanced certificate of education.

Presenting the results, the Minister for State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, Olivier Rwamukwaya, said the performance improved compared to the previous year.

"For general education students, the performance improved from 89.1 per cent in the previous year to 89.2 percent.”

The Minister also acknowledged the drop in exam malpractice. Only 44 cases were reported compared to 102 the year before.

"The decline in malpractice was a result of efforts by multiple stakeholders, mainly teachers and head-teachers,” he said.

Expounding further on malpractice cases, Janvier Gasana the Director General for Rwanda Education Board said cases are not solely about cheating since they come in different forms.

"People should know that malpractices does not entirely mean cheating which is bad in itself but that in case of violation of terms and conditions as stipulated in examination booklet is a malpractice as well,” Gasana said.

Exam regulations for example provide that students cannot write names and or index number outside provided space in the booklet; exam papers cannot be opened before and or after examination time, amongst others.

Gasana further said that students, whose names fall in malpractice cases, can always appeal the decision at the education Board, which looks into the entire case afresh and decide accordingly.

Prof. George Njoroge, from the University of Rwanda said that university will soon provide guidelines for students wishing to join the University.

"Now that the results are released, we will soon convene a meeting soon to plan for the next September intake, from there we will be able to inform everybody on the way forward on modalities of joining University,” Njoroge said.

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