Students force education minister to back down – Mozambique

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Students force education minister to back down – Mozambique

5:44 CAT | 18 May 2018

Photo: Twitter @AllexandreMZ

Mozambican secondary school students on Friday forced the Education Ministry to back down on its plans to change the assessment model for this year.

On Thursday the Ministry announced that it was scrapping the longstanding scheme under which students in 10th and 12th grades could be excused from taking end of year exams, if their work during the year was good enough.

Those students whose assessments during the year reached an average of 70 per cent would be dispensed from the requirement of sitting final exams.

But on Thursday, the Ministry announced that this procedure was being suspended. As from this year, all students would have to sit the exams, regardless of how good their marks during the year were.

No explanation was given for this, but it was suspected it was an attempt by the Ministry to combat corruption in the schools. It is believed that some students bribed teachers to secure exemption from the exams.

The reaction from students was immediate and hostile. Interviewed by the independent television station STV, several students said it was unfair to change the system half way through the school year.

A large number of students demonstrated outside the Education Ministry’s Maputo headquarters on Friday morning. Ministry staff agreed to discuss the matter, and held a meeting with the students at the nearby Josina Machel Secondary School.

The result appears to have been a complete victory for the students. They told reporters that the Ministry has retreated, and that the new scheme, under which all students must sit the exams will only take effect next year.

For this year, the regulations dating from 2015, which allow students to be excused from the exams if their marks during the year are good enough, will remain in force.

The Ministry says it will meet with the students again to explain exactly how the change will be made next year.

Alunos protestam contra eliminação de exames na segunda classe, submissão de alunos aos exames apenas com conteúdos das classes que frequentam e a abolição das dispensas. #Moçambique pic.twitter.com/u14Fnh4RAn

— Alexandre Zerinho (@AllexandreMZ) May 18, 2018