TANZANIA: A TOTAL of 1,692,802 pupils are scheduled to sit for Standard Four National Assessment (SFNA) in Tanzania Mainland starting today.
National Examinations Council of Tanzania (NECTA) Executive Secretary, Dr Said Ally Mohamed told reporters in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday that 828,591 pupils, equivalent to 48.95 per cent are boys and 864,211pupils, equivalent to 51.05 per cent are girls.
He noted that some 6,402 are pupils with special needs, 1,074 with low vision, 93 vision impairment, 1,240 with hearing impairment, 1,786 with physical impairment and 2,209 with intellectual impairment.
Dr Mohamed also said that a total of 759,573 registered candidates are expected to sit for Form Two National Assessment (FTNA) on October 30th, this year in Tanzania Mainland.
According to NECTA's boss, 353,807 candidates are boys and 405,766 candidates are girls, estimated as 46.58 per cent and 53.42 per cent respectively.
He added that some 1,382 Form Two candidates have special needs, with 683 with low vision, 82 vision impairment, 290 with hearing impairment, 309 with physical impairment and 18 with intellectual impairment.
Elaborating, he noted that the national assessments will be conducted in 19,284 primary schools and 5,546 secondary schools in mainland Tanzania.
"SFNA is important because it enables us to know the level of pupils in mastering advanced reading skills, writing and counting while FTNA measures the ability and understanding of candidates in all that they learned during the two years of their Secondary studies," Dr Mohamed noted.
He said that the results of SFNA and FTNA identify important areas that need to be improved in student learning activities at school.
In comparison to last year, Form Two candidates who sat for the national assessment were 690,341, which is an increase of 10 per cent, while the Standard Four candidates have decreased by 1.5 per cent.
Moreover, Dr Mohamed said that all the preparations of SFNA and FTNA for the year 2023 have been completed, including the distribution of relevant exams, answer booklets and all-important documents related to these exams to all regions and councils in mainland Tanzania.
NECTA further directed all examination committees in regional and district level to ensure security is maintained in all centres as per guidelines given to the council. The council also instructed invigilators to abide by ethics as it calls upon the candidates to observe ethics and truthfulness.
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Dr Mohamed also said that school owners and principals are not required in any way to interfere with the duties of invigilators throughout the exam period, adding that the council will not hesitate to cancel any examination centre that endangers the safety of national examinations.
On the candidates' side, he said the council believes that teachers have prepared them well throughout the four years of primary education and two years of secondary education. Thus, it is the expectation of the council that students will take the exam under the examination rules.
"The council does not expect to see any student involved with fraudulent practices, and if any student is identified to commit fraud, his or her results will be canceled according to examination regulations," he said.
NECTA called upon all stakeholders to report to the relevant bodies whenever they detect a person or group of people engaging in exam fraud.
