Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Intransigence by the Ministry of Higher Education in refusing to believe that there is a serious flaw in the A level results

Despite overwhelming evidence of a complete breakdown in the reporting systems in the issue of the A level results issued of Christmas day of all days, there is a complete lack of acceptance that there is something wrong.

There was initial acceptance that some errors had been found in the District and National ranking systems which had been subsequently corrected. However it appears that the problems with regard to the difference in the results as submitted to the school Heads and that in the Internet along with the fact that many students received results from subjects they did not sit have not been resolved. The Ministry Secretary and the Commissioner of Examinations dispute there is a problem, and the Minister in order to cover himself has said that there could be isolated instances of anomalies, but overall the results stand not requiring them to be withdrawn.

I maintain that the results MUST be withdrawn forthwith, and investigated and the new set of results for ALL students reissued once the problems have been ironed out. I do not believe the problem is isolated and am in the process of gathering data to present to the authorities and the Media so that they can judge for themselves if what I am saying is systemic or isolated.

Imagine if you are an A level student expecting the results or the Parent of one. How would you feel? I would not like to be in the shoes of one of them. I will not know if the results will be cancelled owing to the growing challenges from all parts of the country. Therefore the results I have received will not be believable either even if they are good or even better than I expected. This is a serious indictment of the Department of Examination’s inability to do their job properly.

In short there is a cock up of incredible proportions, and no one least of all the relevant Minister is willing to accept blame. Heads should roll, but it should begin with the Minister. I cannot understand why he nor the President who has not commented on this as he was partly to blame by forcing the Examinations Commissioner to release the results before he was ready. Only he and not the Minister is able to judge if they are ready with all the facts prior to releasing the examination results.

If this is any indication of how the Education and Examination Departments work, I dread to think how they will implement the new Education Policy the government is about to introduce with new syllabuses and subjects. Further the Private Universities Bill will be another example of a badly drafted one full of holes!!

No comments: