The National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA) has warned that stern actions would be taken against head teachers who are in charge of enrolling pupils in Senior 1 and Senior 4 in new schools.
Following multiple concerns from parents, the warning was issued on September 6, 2023, at the commencement of a statewide campaign to educate head teachers, students, and parents about the new examination grade system and student placement procedures.
The statute provides NESA sole power over grading exams, placement, and orientation of students entering the first and fourth years of secondary school.
The law further states that any placement done outside of this framework is unlawful and would not be recognized by NESA.
And this can lead to serious judicial proceedings, such as slapping offenders with large penalties (between Rwf500,000 and not more than Rwf1 million).
However, according to NESA Director General, Dr. Bernard Bahati, a number of situations have been reported in which head teachers have violated the directive in order to grant parents the favor of placing graduate students in their schools.
“It is the mandate of NESA to place students (S1 and S4), not the mandate of school principals,” Bahati explained.
He cited an example of some observed questionable practices in which certain institutions are required to report positions available but instead provide a small number to later fill up the other vacancies (withheld ones) through private agreements.
According to Bahati, this fosters a culture of partiality and so jeopardizes the entire new process of placing pupils in schools for which they applied, which is handled by an automated computerized system known as the School Data Management System (SDMS).
Article 45 of the ministerial directive controlling student placements follows three procedures: student grades, school preferences, and the number of vacant openings in the schools.
The new SDMS assesses students based on their performance and assigns them to schools of their first or second choice based on their final grades and averages.
Some of the Education officials and Head Teachers who spoke to KTPress stated they were unaware of how the system worked, but the campaign made them aware of critical flaws that needed to be addressed in the future.
“It will take time to correct things, but it will help us explain how the selections, grading, and placements were done, especially when parents and students are unhappy with the results,” said Eugene Lambert Riziki, the Education officer in Kinyinya Sector, Gasabo district.
According to NESA, the SDMS system is designed in such a way that all of this information is digitally transmitted to students’ and parents’ contact phones (in USSD phone format) and available online for results slips and placements.
Rural parents would benefit from having easier access to school results and slips, as opposed to previously having to go to NESA headquarters in Kigali to collect or request the result slips and placements.
