S.1, S.4 students face selection crisis

Some Senior One and Senior Four students could begin their studies late after a mix up during the recent selections by the examination body. Studies for the two groups of students commenced yesterday when students were expected to join respective schools that were allocated to them. When The New Times visited the head offices of Rwanda National Examination Council (RNEC), in Remera, on Monday, long queues of students could be seen as they tried to register their complaints. “I was a given a letter indicating the school I was supposed to join, but when I reached there, I was told that I had no place,” said Grace Uwimana whose letter indicated that she had been admitted at Byimana Secondary School in Ruhango District. She and many other students are likely to spend another two weeks before they can commence studies. “We have been told to register our complaints and wait for two weeks for responses on the next move,” said another student who preferred anonymity. According to a source at RNEC, the mix-up came up as a result of putting students in schools considering cut-off points set by particular schools, yet students had not chosen these schools as their first choices. “There are students who had been sent to Byimana and yet they had put FAWE Girls’ school as first choice, so Byimana rejected them. They have since been sent back to RNEC,” said the source who did not want to be named because he is not allowed to speak to the press. Students who have pitched camp at RNEC offices also include those who attained the cut-off grades but don’t know where they were sent and those who were sent to schools they never chose. The source at RNEC says that it is after the two weeks that the examination body will ascertain the places in various schools that are vacant. They will then, absorb students in those places. However, students who were eagerly waiting to begin their studies say that they stand to lose a lot while waiting for the matter to be resolved. Efforts to get a comment from RNEC were futile by the time we went to press as John Rutayisire, the body’s Executive Secretary, could not be reached. Ends