Throughout Rwanda and indeed East Africa, examinations for the end of primary school kicked off Tuesday this week. In Rwanda, over 190,000 pupils began their final primary school examinations.

The figure represents a 16 per cent rise compared to the last academic year. It was reported in the media this week that the State Minister for Primary and Secondary education, Isaac Munyakazi, said that the number of candidates increased from 168,290 in 2015 to 194,679. This is undoubtedly an impressive feat and is attributed to the Government’s good policy that encourages parents to send their children to school.

Looking at the African continent in general, it has been reported that of Africa’s nearly 128 million school-age children, 17 million will never attend school. While this may sound pretty grim, even more shocking is the fact that, according to Africa Learning Barometer, 37 million African children will learn so little while in school that they will not be much better off than those children who never attend school. As a consequence, Africa’s future socio-economic development has been deemed to be poor.

Another finding by Africa Learning Barometer is that sub-Saharan Africa’s total primary school population — 61 million children — will reach adolescence without the basic skills needed to lead successful and productive lives. The said Barometer also points out the massive inequalities between the haves and have-nots. There are disadvantages that poor, rural students face in accessing education in comparison to their rich and urban counterparts.

This is not a matter for debate.While there is a lot to celebrate about the progress we have made as a country and region and indeed continent over the last decade in school enrollment, there is a deeper learning crisis that needs to be addressed. We need to act now to raise the standards of education and improve learning outcomes, the potential of tens of millions of our African youths will be terribly wasted and our socio-economic development will stagnate.

Education provides people with what Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen calls "human capabilities,” the essential and individual power to reflect, make choice, seek voice in society and enjoy a better life. Education is one of the most powerful instruments known for reducing poverty and inequality. It is also fundamental for the construction of democratic societies and dynamic and globally competitive economies.

According to The New Times, Munyakazi wants the policy on automatic promotion revised to make sure students who merit promotion are the ones who get it. Beyond what the minister of state says about automatic promotion, it exacerbates laziness among students. There is no programme arranged at school level to help underachievers before they get promoted to the next grade. Incidentally, the main criterion that is used in schools to make promotion-retention decisions is attendance.

Generally, it is believed that repetition affects efficiency, that it ties up school resources that could otherwise be allocated to reaching non-enrolled children and dropout rates could also be increased in the schools. This ultimately means that repetition causes educational wastage and become an obstacle in the universalisation of primary education. There is a danger that automatic promotion could leave a considerable number of students functionally illiterate.

Automatic promotion means, and there is no mincing words here, rewarding students regardless of their individual ability and effort.

Looking at the other side of examinations, it can be a painful business where the end justifies the means. It is an industry. As we await our primary school candidates to go through the taxing process of examinations and hopefully get their grades, high school and university beckons and teachers, as usual, can bask in the warm glory of a job well done.

Ultimately, examinations are inevitable for students but they do not have to be a painful exercise. This is a very important time for our candidates to put to practice all the knowledge, skills and advice offered by their teachers, parents, families and friends. This is also an opportunity for students to show what they have learnt over the last few years.

Finally, I would never be in favour of those who wish to abolish examinations. Examinations test vital skills like handling pressure and time management.

Examinations will continue to remain the cornerstone in every school as it assesses how much knowledge students have acquired. Good luck to our candidates!