A slight improvement was noticed in the performance of candidates who sat their Advanced Level national examinations last year, according to officials. They were speaking during the release of A-Level results at the Ministry of Education headquarters in Kacyiru yesterday.

Out of 40,753 candidates who sat A-level exams in 2017, 89.55 per cent passed compared to 2016 when the pass rate was 89.51 per cent.

It’s a slight increase but it means a lot, according to officials from the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC).

Releasing the results, the Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education, Isaac Munyakazi, described the pass rate as good news, applauding stakeholders in the education sector for their contribution.

"Compared with last year, there is 0.4 per cent increase in terms of passing exams, which is good news for our children’s performance,” he said.

Munyakazi said that the improvement is due to different factors including sensitisation for partnership in education between parents, schools, and teachers as well as for students to understand that they need to work hard.

"We should appreciate everyone’s contribution in the good performance of students,” he said.

Of the 40,753 candidates who sat for A-level exams last year, 22,429 were females, which represent 55.04 per cent of all candidates.

Officials also said that opportunities that contributed to good performance also included good didactic materials availed to students in schools.

"The Ministry of Education has taken measures to ensure that didactic materials such as books arrive at schools on time,” Munyakazi said.

The ministry recently decided to produce didactic materials from Rwanda instead of having them printed from abroad.

Officials said that rural schools were among the best performing schools and one example is a twelve-year-basic education school in Ruhango, (Southern Province) which emerged number five among the best schools in the country.

Groupe Scolaire Rusiga in Rulindo District of Northern Province is also among the 50 best schools in the country in the A-level exams.

Munyakazi urged Rwandans to stop looking at mostly rural, 12-year-basic education schools as poorly performing because they are good schools like any others and teachers there are doing a good job.

"The idea that these schools are predisposed to poor education is just baseless and that perception should just stop,” he said.

The Minister for Education, Eugène Mutimura, congratulated stakeholders in education for the pass rate among senior six leavers, explaining that the students’ performance reflects efforts in the education sector.

"It goes without saying that the government’s efforts in education are reflected in the performance of students. Even if quality education is a long process we should be proud of the achievements made in the area of education so far,” he said.

He said that efforts will continue to further improve the pass rate of students leaving senior six to over 90 per cent.

"We will continue to work with different institutions to improve the quality of education in our country with the aim of achieving a pass rate of at least 95 per cent in the future,” he said.

Those who will continue their studies in Rwanda among them will end up joining different institutions of higher learning in the country including those that are public such as the University of Rwanda and Rwanda Polytechnic (RP).

The grading of results is A=6 points, B=5 points, C= 4 points, D=3 points, E=2, S=1 and F=Fail.

Candidates sit a combination of three principle subjects and General Paper as a subsidiary paper.

Candidates who qualify for a Certificate should have scored at least 3 subsidiary passes at grade [S] or its equivalent.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw