National examinations are due to commence on June 14 when TVET candidates do their practicals. Primary candidates are due to sit their exams from July 12-14, O-Level, A-Level (theory) and TVET (theory) from July 20-27, and A-Level (science practicals) July 28-30. In total, 452,053 candidates will sit the upcoming examinations. 

These will be the first national exams in two years as Covid-19 forced school closures for much of 2020.

The New Times’  Liesse Niwe caught up with Bernard Bahati (pictured below), Director General of the newly established National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) who offered a word of advice to the candidates and shed more light about the new institution’s role.

Below are excerpts:

2020 was a hectic academic year because of Covid-19, these will be the first national exams in almost two years, what are your expectations as the institution in charge of exams?

With schools closing because of the novel coronavirus, NESA has conducted an assessment and found that schools and students have been working hard to cover the curricula. Most candidates are now in revision time so we expect good performance from students, as usual, we do not expect any decline. And we will do our job by administering the exams and fair assessment according to the curriculum.

With what has happened for more than a year now you’d expect many students to be anxious and unsure of what to expect, what would you advise them?

Candidates need to be focused on their lessons. National examinations are just a summary of all of the assessments they have undergone. Nothing special in national examinations. Whoever has been doing well in routine class activities will also do well in national examinations. There is nothing to worry about. They should concentrate on what they have covered so far and good results are waiting for them. Good results are the fruit of hard work. They should be disciplined at school and follow all the Covid-19 guidelines.

Schools should also continue to assist candidates in their revision, and ensure that they fully understand all the exam instructions and guidelines that NESA gave them recently. Candidates should have access to the instructions for national examinations and in case anyone needs clarification, they can get it right away from their teachers. Parents are also requested to offer support to the candidates and help them to find time to revise, in case they are day-scholars.

NESA started operations on March 1 with a mandate that includes part of the roles that used to be for Rwanda Education Board and the former Workforce Development Authority. Could you shed more light on your work?

NESA will be working in two wings, the first being national examinations (a function previously under REB and WDA), which includes preparing exams, administering them, marking and publishing the results, as well as allocating students to schools and giving out certificates. The second wing of our mandate is about quality assurance. That deals with regular school inspection, comprehensive assessment, and certification, which includes getting certificate equivalence of primary and secondary certificates (for people who studied abroad). 

So, what does NESA bring to the table in terms of quality of education?

REB had many responsibilities in the education sector and it was hard to manage, and sometimes it was hard to deliver, not because they are not capable but because they are overwhelmed. The same goes for the former WDA. You cannot be the implementer and be your own regulator or evaluate yourself at the same time, there should be some sort of external eye to assess your work. So, at the moment, REB and Rwanda TVET Board are in charge of teaching and curriculum development, and NESA will come in with assessment and inspections in schools and examinations. The main reason behind all this is to ensure quality education. It’s important to have an institution that evaluates the education sector, that’s affiliated to the Ministry of Education, but not under the ministry per se to guarantee proper inspection and implementation.

How are you going to do it?

We are looking at doing an impactful inspection, we will do a baseline study so as to build NESA on a strong foundation. This should help at the takeoff stage in terms of quality assurance, we are looking at changing how inspection is done.  For example, if we inspect a school and see that it’s not doing well we want to accompany the school toward providing solutions and help it do better.

We are also working with different partners like USAID, UNICEF, World Bank, among others, which will be helpful.

Another plan is school assessment, we want to give more weight to continuous or comprehensive assessment; for example, currently, a student completes high school and all their education journey is sanctioned by awarding a certificate based on exams they did in two weeks, yet they have been studying for six years.

So, at a certain point, our plan is to include all their comprehensive assessment and their overall performance over the years in their final certificate, but this is something we are still working on because we need to collect data first and work on it.

What challenges are you facing as a new institution and how are you tackling them?

NESA started when there were many must-do activities and in the middle of an academic year. This was especially so in the TVET education where we had to prepare and re-administer exams. We have also encountered a challenge related to shortage of staff but we are working with other sister institutions who are providing us with staff; other than that we have been working seamlessly.