The selection of students due to join senior one and four is underway.The four-day exercise, which began on Tuesday, is taking place at Lycee Notre Dame De Citeaux in Kigali.Several headteachers and officials from Rwanda Education Board (REB) have gathered to aid in the selection process, presided over by the Minister of Education, Vincent Biruta. The exercise follows the release last week of 2012 results for candidates who sat their Primary Leaving and Ordinary Level exams.“We look at three key things; candidates choice, marks and the places available,” Emmanuel Muvunyi, the deputy director general at REB in charge of examinations told The New Times. “The first choices of the students matter to us more than anything. We consider them first before moving on to the next step. After choice is determined, we establish the cut off marks of the schools. Lastly, we consider the places available in each of the schools.”Muvunyi said that the over all cut off marks to join Senior One are 18 for boys and 20 for girls.He explained that this was due to the presence of more girls schools than for boys. Traditionally, well performing schools like Lycee De Notre Dame de Citeaux, FAWE Girls School and Lycee de Kigali (LDK) are some of the schools that will soon open their gates to these new students. However, individual schools retain their individual cut off mark standards with LDK topping the list at six aggregates.Muvunyi said that the selection is largely for children who will be placed in boarding schools, some of which will be out of Kigali. The students who do not make the overall cut off points will be selected by their districts, which will place them in day schools closer to their homes under the 9-year Basic Education.
