Angry parents, students storm REB offices over cancelled results

Parents, teachers and students of Hillside Day and Boarding Primary School, a private school in Nyagatare District, yesterday braved the scorching sun and later an afternoon downpour at the Rwanda Education Board (REB) offices, demanding explanation for the cancellation of their results. REB cancelled results of 102 students out of the 138 candidates who sat the Primary Level Examinations at the school over alleged examination irregularities. The group petitioned REB to reconsider their decision, saying the students’ results were down to their hard work.The school has a record of good performance and has on several occassions featured on the list of the top 10 performing schools in the country. In the previous results, all the 125 students from the school passed the examinations.Suspicion arose over Question 32. B of the Mathematics paper, which it is alleged students of the school, tackled the same way, using a similar formula and derived a similar answer.“When we tried accessing our results using the short-code given by REB, we received notification that our results had been cancelled for engaging in irregularities. We were shocked because we worked hard for our results,” Olive Mwiza, one of the affected students, told The New Times.She said they used a simplified formula they learnt from their Mathematics teacher and had their exercise books to prove it.“The suspicion could be that it is not in the ordinary Mathematics text books, but we had been taught to use it as it was simpler and easy to recall,” Mwiza said.Students with cancelled results usually have no option but to repeat the class and the final examination, which the students said they were not ready to do as they were innocent.“If the decision is not overturned, our only option is to repeat the class which would be unfair as we are innocent. The school has been performing well in the previous years and had never been accused of cheating. We sat exams with students from other schools at the same examination centre and they all got their results,” Michael Nshimiye, another affected student, said.Students of the school sat exams with students from Matimba and Rwentanga primary schools.The teacher of the controversial paper, Simon Byamungu, argued that Mathematics being a subject dreaded by most students requires teachers to engage in research and come up with creative ways to simplify formulae and procedures. “As a teacher it is my duty to ensure that formulae are as easy as possible to enable students tackle mathematical problems. It is all I did. The formulae I taught my students is not in the common text books but it leads to the correct answer. In previous years, I have always taught my students to use the same formulae while tackling solutions,” he said.He said during the examinations, the invigilators did not have any issues with the students and neither did the report written by the supervisors point out any irregularities.A few parents and teachers sat with REB officials in a closed-door meeting for close to four hours. Speaking after the meeting, Jane Karemera, the parents’ representative, said REB officials had received their petition and promised to forward it to the Ministry of Education.“We came to support our children whose results have been cancelled. We believe they are innocent. REB has promised to get back to us after consultations with the Ministry of Education,” Karemera said.The school principal, Eddie Ngobi, said he was expecting a positive response from REB.“We were surprised by the big number of parents who have turned up at the REB offices today (yesterday) morning. Some began coming in as early as Friday when they tried checking their children’s results in vain,” Ngobi said.John Rutayisire, Director General of REB, said the office only withholds results when they can prove beyond reasonable doubt that there was malpractice involved.“While making the decision to withhold results, we consider a lot of evidence and can prove there was malpractice involved,” Rutayisire said.He said the board welcomes petitions but added that overturning a decision is not always guaranteed.“Our duty is not to punish but to educate. We are looking into the school’s petition to determine the way forward,” he said.The Ministry of Education released results for candidates who sat their Primary Leaving Examinations and Senior Three in 2013, last Thursday, with candidates from Eastern Province and City of Kigali dominating the top positions, especially in PLE.The ministry also withheld results for 139 O’ Level candidates of Rwimiyaga High School in Nyagatare District over alleged examination malpractices.

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Angry parents, students storm REB offices over cancelled results