National exam results: NESA explains school placement, appeal process

The results for the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) and Ordinary Level were released on Thursday, August 20, allowing students to check their performance, the schools where they have been placed and the learning pathways they will take. ALSO READ: National exams: Kirehe leads top-performing districts While some students and parents are satisfied with the results and school placements, others have raised concerns about the grades awarded, the schools where students were placed or the learning pathways they were assigned. Bernard Bahati, Director General of the National Examination and School Inspection Authority (NESA), explained the procedures students and parents should follow if they are not satisfied with their results or placement. Request for change of school, learning pathway Bahati addressed parents who may not be satisfied with the schools where their children have been placed or the pathway they have been assigned. Appeals about school placement and learning-pathway can be submitted online through the School Data Management System (SDMS). He gave an example of a parent whose child has been placed in a boarding school far from home and who would prefer the child to attend a day school. “There are measures put in place. There is a page you pass through in the SDMS, the same page where you checked the grades, and that is where you pass through when requesting to change the school,” he said. However, Bahati said requests to change schools will not necessarily be addressed before students report to their assigned schools when the academic year begins on September 7. He explained that all available positions have already been filled and schools are expected to receive the students assigned to them. NESA will therefore wait until students report to school to determine which allocated places remain unused. “If we sent 100 students to a certain school and 80 are present, 20 didn’t come. The vacant slots of students who didn’t come are what we use to respond to the students who requested for a change of school,” he said. He added that all claims and requests for school changes will be handled after students return to school. The same procedure will be applied to students who want to change learning pathways. Students can appeal grades Bahati said students who believe their grades may contain an error have the right to request a review. “Every child has a right to appeal, but the claim passes through the school head teacher. It is not a claim where a parent or child claims directly to NESA,” he said. He explained that the procedure is designed to allow school administrators and teachers to first assess the concern because they know the students and their academic performance. “The school administration and teachers can say that based on how they know the student there might have been an issue with the grades the student got in a certain subject,” Bahati said. The head teacher then submits the request to NESA for the student's examination paper to be reviewed. Bahati said routing claims through schools also helps NESA manage the large number of students who may seek reviews. “We have a high number of students. If each one goes to NESA to request a review, it may be difficult to address them all. That is why we ask that it to be coordinated at school and the head teacher be the one to go to NESA directly,” he said. Placement based on grades, choice of school and available spaces Bahati said student placement is based on three main factors: the grades obtained by a student, the available places in schools and the choices made by students. “When we finish grading, we place students in schools. We consider three main things: the marks a student got, the positions available in schools, and the choices of students who won the examination,” he said. ALSO READ: Meet the top performers in national exams According to NESA figures, 17,412 students progressing from primary to Senior One have been placed in boarding schools, while 226,546 have been placed in day schools. For students moving from Ordinary Level to Advanced Level, 18,944 have been placed in boarding schools and 57,276 in day schools. In Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), 2,698 students have been placed in boarding schools, while 17,747 will study in day schools. Meanwhile, 7,497 students who will go to Teacher Training College (TTC), nursing and accounting programmes have been placed in boarding schools, while 148 will study in day schools. Bahati explained that the day-school placements in this category are for accounting students, as all TTC and nursing students are placed in boarding schools. He also clarified that the number of students placed in boarding schools is not determined only by the number of students who request for those schools, as available spaces are limited. He cited Saint Aloys Rwamagana as an example, saying 28,210 students requested to study there, while the school has only 110 available places. At École des Sciences de Musanze, 22,456 students requested placement, but only 105 positions were available. Similarly, 17,981 students requested to study at Lycée de Kigali, where only 65 positions were available.

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National exam results: NESA explains school placement, appeal process