What next after the English exam?

THE ministry of education organized an exam that was done on Friday September 25, by all secondary and primary teachers countrywide. The primary objective of the exercise was to check the teachers’ level of the English language. Though the exercise was meant for all teachers countrywide, it is surprising that there are some who did not do it but went away untouched. Teachers were informed two weeks prior to the real exercise and because everybody wanted to prove their capability, some went as far as stealing the exam from the custody of their head teachers. Two teachers from a certain school are reported as having stolen the exam paper and did the exam, after which they presented the paper when time came for presenting. This came as a result of the districts giving out the exams to the head teachers so they can make enough copies for their teachers. The exam was a forty numbered question paper and expected to be done within thirty minutes. Surprisingly, most of the teachers did it in less than fifteen minutes. So is it the time allocated for the paper or the questions set that were inappropriate? At every centre the head teachers were the ones to invigilate and then late also write their own English exam.Examining teachers and then giving them multiple choice questions leaves a lot of questions unattended to. If one is capable of circling the right answer it does not prove that they can deliver content to their students. Exams are necessary because they are meant to evaluate the learner’s level of understanding after the teaching and learning process. But this was just a simple exercise and not an exam. However, it is very difficult to evaluate someone you have not taught. If the ministry wanted to effectively carry out evaluation, it would interview teachers. one at a time other than giving them objective question type which they did not even do. At a time like this when the country needs Anglophone speaking nationals, teachers need communicative English rather than providing them with written exercises which people will copy from the neighbours even when they don’t understand what they are actually doing. Whether Anglophone or Francophone, the exam was meant for all teachers. Those who did not turn up are against the organizers of the programme. Some rejected saying that they can deliver the content well in English, no need to write anything on paper. There is great need to revise the measures taken to test teachers next time. Above all, teachers need to show that they can communicate rather than writing what they might not have understood. If one can communicate it means that they can deliver content effectively in class. The author is a teacher at Kagarama secondary schoolshebs10@yahoo.com