DO AWAY WITH EXTERNAL EXAMS - SNAT

MANZINI – Government should do away with external examinations this year, says the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT).

President of SNAT Mbongwa Dlamini said his organisation had submitted to government that external examinations should be suspended this year as pupils had not been afforded an opportunity to learn much. He said they had suggested that all examinations be deferred to next year such that those writing a syllabus under the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) would sit for them in June next year. He said during this period, the Cambridge University offered supplementary examinations for pupils which the local pupils could take as their final examinations.

Challenges

The SNAT president suggested that this was because the examinations under the IGCSE were set at an earlier period and did not accommodate the challenges the country faced. “European countries vaccinated their citizens long ago and they do not have the same challenges as ours; so insisting that learners write the exams could be to their detriment,” Dlamini said. Furthermore, Dlamini said the examinations set by the Eswatini Examinations Council (ECESWA) could also be written next year to accommodate lessons that would empower pupils to qualify for tertiary and not struggle with grasping certain concepts once they were enrolled there. The unionist said it was high time that government considered altering the school calendar in order to address the challenges the country faced. He further said an advantage was that academic years in tertiary institutions began in August or early September annually.

Targets

Worth noting is that last year, SNAT had said in order for teachers to meet their desired targets, government needed to engage head teachers to permit them to teach only examinable topics. “We usually teach everything and given the delay, government needs to permit schools to trim the syllabus so that learners cover essential topics that they will be examined on.” The organisation said there were topics that were covered in two or more subjects that would need to be trimmed in order for pupils and teachers to maximise the minimal time they had. For example, it was said: “There are topics like cattle farming in agriculture which are also catered for in geography.” It was also suggested that alternatively, government must engage with his association to have teachers work overtime. It was said the overtime would be in that the teachers were to use their personal time to cover all that needed to be taught. To this, the Ministry of Education and Training said there was an examination syllabus that was used in schools to prepare pupils. It was said teachers were aware of that and in most instances they usually started with it when preparing pupils.

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