Hoping that such pupils will pass their examination is hoping against hope itself, for they wouldn’t even if they repeated 10 times. We have to look for educational solutions but not via this kind of reasoning.
In fact, studies by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training itself in 2008 show that very few repeaters pass their exams, unless they receive extra tuition outside the school system.
In addition, repeaters have greater propensity to drop out of school. Basically what the studies show is that we have ineffective schools and teachers. This is not a problem with our children.It is a problem with our schools and the education system that the ministry should address, instead of indulging in escapism and blaming the pupils.
It needs to be underscored that our children get education under very harsh conditions, like sitting on puddles and dirty floors, often walking long distances to get to schools.
In school they get very poor education from underperforming teachers. Then they become the villains, or victims of examinations – punishing them and their parents harshly. That is, as they say, adding insult to injury.
Worse still, the parents have to pay for these repeated examinations. Meanwhile, we have failed to make our schools ready for the children by not tackling infrastructural and teacher supply problems.
Form II failures are over 200,000 and we have the same number of Form IV. All these would like to repeat the year if it would be promising. Yet there is neither room nor hope for them.They would be in addition to the over 500,000 pupils who get selected to join secondary school each year out of the slightly over a million Class VII pupils in 2011.
It is, in educational terms, very inefficient to such a very large proportion or number of students being repeaters.
In fact, I had thought that we had a more professional and corporate understanding on the functions of examinations in Tanzania.
The high stake examinations, that is, Class VII, Form IV and Form VI, will be used primarily for selection purposes, and also, if well analysed, as feedback to schools and the education system in general.The Class IV and Form II examinations would be used primarily for diagnostic purposes, answering the question: “How are our schools doing? Then use the data for promotion and remedial instructions.
Teachers have to be accountable for school outcomes. Ideally, the diagnosis and intervention should be a continuous process through monthly, end of term, and end of year tests rather than waiting until pupils fail in national examinations!
Let us not punish the pupils by making them repeat classes or squeeze them out of schools to become machingas and drug peddlers because they have failed examinations for no fault of theirs. Keep them in schools, teach them and manage them better, give them teachers and textbooks and see what will happen.
They will pass. That is how we were taught in college. In fact, there is no evidence that fear of examinations make pupils pass. Worse still, there is no space for them in schools. It could be counter productive, inviting pathologies such as cheating, neurotic behaviours, and mental breakdown. We need to minimise fear of examinations.
Many teachers do not know how to make diagnostic tests and handle remedial instructions! Let each school train a master teacher for this purpose, one who would train fellow teachers.But let us not punish the children who are not being offered good education due to lack of teachers, books and learning materials.
In addition, Form II exams, if they are to administered, should not be national. They could be either district-based or at most regional, and mediated by school inspectors. This would reduce expenses and make the exams more relevant and responsive to local conditions. But the bottom line is: Let us improve our teaching and stop blaming the children.
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