The Ministry of Education is set to change the grading format for national examinations. The new format, set to be implemented next year, was announced by the Minister for Education, Valentine Uwamariya, with the decision coming at a time recent examination results have stirred controversy with thousands of students complaining about unfair grading. “I want to assure the public that next year we will use a new grading format,” the minister told the national broadcaster, Rwanda Television. Commenting on the complaints filed by some candidates following recent announcement of national exams results, she admitted that the current format is prone to inefficiencies and hence the errors that might have led to the awarding of wrong marks to some students. “As usual, after the release of the examination results, we take two months to check again and correct the errors because we are still using a format where errors are possible,” she said. She promised they will address complaints formally filed by the students. A TVET student who preferred anonymity, who filed a formal complaint seeking to be re-marked, hopes his petition will be looked into and given fair grades. “I filed a complaint because I believe that the grades I received do not reflect my actual performance,” he stated. He says he always performed well in school, which is the same case with some of his colleagues who have the same problem. As of November 24, at least 1,000 candidates had filed complaints protesting the grades they were given by the National Examination and School Inspection Authority, the agency said. These include 533 candidates from S.6, 376 from TVET, and 18 from TTC.
