NECTA shelves special exam for Form One entrants

NATIONAL Examination Council of Tanzania (NECTA) has shelved special test examination for Form One students who were selected to join public schools this year, citing reluctance by school heads to collaborate. 

The examination body had planned the February 28 examination reportedly to filter out students who could have passed their national Standard Seven examinations last year, deceitfully.

But, NECTA Deputy Executive Secretary Athumani Salumu, speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting that Morogoro Regional Commissioner Kebwe Stephen Kebwe chaired here on Monday, said failure by heads of public schools to provide the council with the lists of examinees has hampered the plan.

He explained that the special testing of students selected to join public schools was a request from some schools heads through the regional and district education officers, claiming that some of the students joining secondary education lacked even the rudimentary ‘read and write’ skills.

The heads of government owned secondary schools had also reportedly asked for permission to subject the new entrants to admission test but NECTA communicated with the regional and district education officers, requesting for the lists of students to be admitted in the schools.

“After getting the total number of the students admitted in secondary schools, the council would have prepared the admission examinations and handing them over to the heads of schools to conduct and supervise the examinations,” he explained.

Among other conditions that the council issued the heads of schools include conducting the admission exam on the same day and time in all public schools countrywide. Mr Salumu however explained that the heads of the government secondary schools failed to present the lists of students through their respective regional and district education officers, compelling the council to cancel the exercise.

He said the council has written the regional administrative secretaries, regional and district education officers on mainland to communicate the plan hold and going back to the old system.

“NECTA has sent official communications on the decision to halt the exercise. Now all students selected to join Form One in government secondary schools including those joining boarding schools should report to their respective schools,” Mr Salumu explained.

Meanwhile, NECTA deputy boss had decried the region’s poor performance in the 2016 Standard Four, Form Two and Form Four national examinations results. In the Form Two examination results, Morogoro came 18th, down from the 13th position in 2015 out of 25 regions in mainland Tanzania.