Ensuring students’ readiness for examinations: NESA efforts are making changes

By Xaverine CYIZA.

Any parent sends a child to school with huge expectations to succeed and make outstanding performance, but teaching and learning models as well as examining strategies support the journey towards students’ success.

The new strategies of the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) is trusted by students to bring a positive change in preparing a student for examinations.

The primary role of NESA is to ensure quality of education in basic education and Technical Secondary School (TSS) from level one (1) to five (5) and to regulate the comprehensive assessments of students and national examinations.

NESA has been operational since for two years now, with the major responsibilities to prepare national academic exams, to correct them and to orient students in the schools having the subjects of the student’s choice. It also oversees the learning and teaching system according to the Government’s school curriculum.

Bruno Nsanzimana, Senior 3 student at Groupe Scolaire Officiel de Butare (G.S.O.B) presently known as Indatwa n’Inkesha says that the current exams by NESA are motivating them to succeed as the model brings many questions that help them to navigate through all the courses preceding the present academic year.

“We do adequate exercises and we are ready to succeed at the national level, Science courses are easy to perform but languages including French and Swahili are complicated, students need to learn these languages from the primary school for them to get prepared.” Nsanzimana says.

NESA exams prepare a student to repeat all the lessons learnt over the previous two years with the aim to perform with good mark aggregates.

Gloria Ntwali Irasubiza, another student of Senior 3 says: “I am ready for the national examination, I am repeating the lessons of the 1st and 2nd years now and I want to succeed with 54 mark aggregates, the questions are well prepared and match with the lessons we learnt in class in the books”

Christa Bella Shimwa, a Senior Five (S5) student who is doing Physics-Chemistry and Mathematics (PCM) at G.S.O.B says: “NESA exams are not totally different from the ones prepared at the school level, they have all the content of the entire academic year, in my preparation period, I make sure I navigate through all the materials of the previous and current academic year,”

Father Charles Hakizimana, Headmaster of G.S.O.B says that collaboration with the National examination and School Institution Authority (NESA) has improved quality of education, but calls for a greater number of teachers and places for examination correction.

G.S.O.B is among the sites of examination correction despite a little number of teachers to mark the exams. Father Hakizimana commends good collaboration with NESA for the last two years in regard to school inspection and exam preparation.

He said that the new marking system ‘CAMIS’ has supplemented the work of a teacher and boosted time management. He emphasizes on knowledge and values of a decent child besides reading and writing skills.

“Our main objective together with NESA, is to equip a child with good conduct and outstanding performance,” he says.

Inter-school examination exchange was a threat to quality education

“NESA’s involvement in the exam preparation has ensured transparency because there has been inter-school exam sharing, which is an history today, the last copy of exam should be signed with the name of a headmaster, making it impossible to share with others,” he says.

This year 2023, G.S.O.B will not host the exam marking ceremony due to sports activities that will take place in the school.

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