At least 89.9 percent of students who sat for national exams for lower high school (Ordinary Level) passed, according to results announced Tuesday by the state minister for primary and secondary education.

State Minister Isaac Munyakazi yesterday received from Rwanda Education Board (REB) results of national exams for both primary and O’Level candidates at the Ministry of Education headquarters in Kacyiru, in Gasabo District.

Munyakazi hailed Rwanda Education Board for the relentless efforts to ensure students receive their results in time, a head of the new academic year.

A total of 96,595 candidates sat for O’level exams last year as compared to 89,421 the previous year.

The general pass rate was 89.9percent, a slight increase of 0.9 percent from the previous year, where the rate stood at 89 percent.

About 11.14 percent representing 10,758 candidates in O’level passed in the first division.

Boys generally performed better than their female counterparts going by the number that passed in the first division, constituting 61.9 percent.

However, girls dominated in category of best performing students in all subjects at O’level with the ratio of 7 to 1, according to Munyakazi.

"A lot of efforts have been put in by REB this year to boost efficiency, we are releasing these results almost two weeks ahead of the opening of academic year which is 22 January, and this will help parents prepare their children for their respective schools,” he said.

Josylin Karenzi Manzi from Gasabo district emerged the best student in O'level.

Candidates can be able to access their results through REB web portal or use the SMS platform by sending their registration number to 489.

According to officials, candidates will also have only three days to know their new schools where they would go for the next level.

Munyakazi also attributed the good performance to the school-feeding programme, where he said that students are no longer required to walk a long distance to look for food, which besides leading to poor performance, also led to dropping out of school.

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