It was all joy for the best candidates as well as their schools as the Ministry of Education, on Monday, October 15, released the results for national examinations for Senior Six, Teacher Training College (TTC), and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

In senior six, the top ten schools include Riviera High School, Gashora Girls Academy, and Ecole de Science Byimana.

They also include Saint Andres, Ecole de Science Nyanza, Ecole de Science Nyamirama, Ecole de Science Gisenyi.

In the TVET section, top performers are Saint Kizito Save TVET School, Groupe Scolaire BTR Rwamiko, Nyanza TVET School, ASG Karama, E.S. Karama.

Others are Cyondo TVET School, College Saint Joseph Kansi, and IPRC Kigali.

The top seven performers in TTC are TTC Muhanga, TTC Mururu, and TTC Nyamata, TTC Rubengera, TTC Save, TTC Bicumbi. 

Headteachers speak out

Head Teachers and principals revealed that the secret behind the success was the hard work and daily follow-up on students among other factors.

Boniface Onyango, the Principal of Riviera High School, which was the best performing school in the country, told The New Times that their success is occasioned by the unity and discipline of all stakeholders.

"School discipline is recognised across parents, teachers as well as learners, and this is important for the effectiveness of each individual,” he said.

On how they are preparing the current candidates, he said that they always look for improvements by being close to students where teachers act as mentors rather than bosses.

He further explained that the school’s this year’s performance was better than last year’s results where 53 out of 55 students who sat for the exam passed.

"The results came out better than previous years because we panicked a bit and worked day and night” he explained.

Brother Crescent Karerangabo, Head Teacher of Ecole de Science Byimana said that the secret is in generally working hard and the family spirit.

"The meaning of family is that whenever the students enter the school, it’s like the shift from one home to another, and that makes them comfortable and feel at home,” he said adding that "when they feel at home the teaching goes smoothly."

He further explained that during the lockdown the school was quick to embrace E-learning.

He said the interaction between students and teachers was at a high level.

Speaking on the general picture of performance he revealed that the performance has improved despite covid-19.

"The numbers have increased from 62 per cent in 2019 to 64.9 per cent this year,” he explained

The way forward is to keep learning from previous experience for improvement, he said.

He noted that another secret for improving is that students sign performance contracts among themselves.

Eng Diogene Murindahabi, the Principal of IPRC, the only City TVET School that made it to the top 10 schools, said that being close to the students even during the pandemic period was the trick to their performance.

"The trainers reached out to the students using different platforms and E-learning. We had to put in more effort to make sure that we helped the students,” he said

He added that as a training institution, they have enough training facilities and equipment to facilitate the students and the trainers.

He said that the school will go beyond and engage the private sector for students to acquire the skills which are needed on the job market.

"As the training centres, we have been affected by the pandemic. However, since we are in the process of recovery we are putting more effort in helping our students to get practical skills," he said.

Jean d’Arc Mukabatesi, the Principal of Muhanga told this publication that there is no other secret other than helping students to in groups. Reading books and the use of Learner Centred Methods was put into practice (learners work hard rather than tutors)

She added that Covid-19 was a challenge, but it wasn't an issue to stop teaching and learning activities.

The Principal of   TTC Nyamata, Alphonse Munyaneza said that they work closely with students on a daily basis.

"We give them all the required materials and follow up on them one by one," he said.

He added that the students in this school have performed very well and all students have passed saying the last student scored 62 out of 100.