LAST week, the Rwanda Education Board (REB) released results for O-Level and Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) indicating a significant improvement in general performance compared to last year.However, as many schools and parents celebrated, there were also stories of disappointment for the candidates who failed. Out of this frustration, some parents subject children to psychological and sometimes physical torture with threats and abuses, like ‘why did I waste my money on you to fail?’ Such comments have devastating effects on the child and should be avoided. Parents should not condemn candidates who have not ‘made it’ to their expectations.There is always another chance to sit the exams and pass.Yet there is more to life than passing national exams. Passing is more than just getting the super grades in exams. Every individual has a talent and parents should look out for that special talent in a child, not the poor grades attained in national exams. Cases of threats and intimidation of pupils into making passing as a do or die affair are not good for children. We should borrow a leaf from the more developed world and groom our children based on their natural abilities. Some children can turn out to be international sports stars, artists if their talent is detected early and well nurtured. There have been lots of changes within society to the effect that the current type of education can no longer be competitive in the 21st century. This has manifested in the high rates of unemployment among fresh graduates.With free education, levels of literacy will sky rocket but this will be against a backdrop of high unemployment. Government needs to continue investing significantly in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and strike a clear balance between conventional education TVET programmes.Parents and students too need to embrace these hands-on courses.
