The pass rate for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students has dropped compared to the previous year.
The revelation was made on Monday February 24 as the Ministry of Education released results for last year’s secondary leaving examinations as well as the ones for TVET’s level 5.
According to the ministry, TVET pass rate dropped to 91.15 per cent in 2019 from 95 per cent a year before.
Dr Valentine Uwamariya, the Deputy Vice Chancellor in Charge of Trainings, Institutional Development and Research at Rwanda Polytechnic (RP), said changes in the examination structure may have brought about the drop in the pass rate.
"We encountered a slight drop in the pass rate due to the novelty in how the students undertake their exams which was also a challenge to students who were repeating from previous years since they were not used to the Rwanda TVET Qualification Framework (RTQF),” Uwamariya explained.
In the RTQF, she further explained, students carried out practicals during the examination, in a period of 2-8 hours depending on the subject, a shift from the previous arrangement.
The old way was based on giving candidates ample time to work on a project and present it in 25 minutes as an exam.
These changes were part of the implementation of the competency-based curriculum which took effect in 2015.
Results
At least 19,231 candidates sat for TVET exams of which 52.57 per cent (10,252) were male and 46.71 per cent (9,048) were female.
Among those who sat for the exams, the ones who qualified for the certificate were 50.33 per cent (9,679) were male and 40.82 per cent (7,851) were female.
Under the TVET arrangement, a candidate qualifies for a certificate if they did all papers and passed within the range of 9 (minimum) and 60 (maximum) as well as grade E in the practical exam.
The results can be viewed online via http://www.rp.ac.rw/en/-exam-publication-view or using mobile phone’s USSD *727*100#.
RP also noted that whoever is not satisfied with his/her results has three months to appeal.