National examinations started Tuesday, July 20, with a total of 197,375 candidates from Ordinary Level, Advanced Level and TVET siting their exams nationwide.

This year's national exams are the first to be conducted in two years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic prompted a prolonged spell of closure of schools.

The exams were officially launched at Saint Joseph Integrated Technical College (SJITC) in Nyarugenge District at exactly 8:30 am.

Father Boniclarpe Nzayisenga, the head centre of SJITC, said the centre has 241 candidates from 3 TVET schools in Kigali City.

"The examinations started smoothly, no student was late and no one was absent and we do not have any candidate who tested positive for Covid-19, but we have an isolation room ready just in case any candidate shows signs or tests positive,” he said.

The students started with practical examinations which began on June 14 and ended on July 3.

"They are now doing theory examinations. We believe they are well prepared and will pass well, because they have been studying hard and we have been helping them despite challenges of Covid-19,” Nzayisenga said.

Bernard Bahati, the Director General of National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA), who presided over the official launch of the exams urged all the students to adhere to Covid-19 guidelines, especially during this time of exams.

"Even though some parts of the country and the City of Kigali are under lockdown, so far we have not had any problem. All candidates, invigilators and staff involved in the exams are being facilitated to go to their respective centres and we expect the examinations to go smoothly as the previous ones have,” he said.

Covid-19 positive cases among candidates

As of July 20, afternoon, some 106 candidates had tested positive for Covid-19.

The National Examination and School Inspection Authority said that none of the candidates was in critical condition.

 All of them, including the ones placed under Home Based Care and isolation rooms will be able to sit the exams from their respective centres.

"We have a special team that includes medical professionals in charge of these candidates,” Bahati said.

Some 122,320 candidates from S.3 are sitting for their national examinations, while 52,145 and 22,910 are from S.6 and TVET respectively.  

The government has organized 200 buses to transport to transport candidates to and from their examination centres following a lockdown that was imposed in Kigali and eight other districts.

O-Level examinations will end on July 27, while A-Level and TVET theory examinations will end on July 27. 

Overall, the exercise will culminate with A-Level Science practical examinations on July 30.