Form IV National Exams

Form IV students are sitting for the National Exams, which take about two weeks to administer.  About 1/3 of our teachers are involved in proctoring the exams at other schools.  As a result, I have gone from teaching math to 3  Form I classes to teaching all 5 of them, just so they don't lose out in these two weeks.  Mark is busy, too.  But, with so many teachers absent, quite a few of the lower level classrooms have no teachers.  There is no other organized activity for these students, they just sit and (supposedly) study.

Tanzania takes these exams very seriously. They determine if, how, and where students will be able to advance in education.  They have much more impact than the SAT does in the States.  Each subject exam is 3 hours long, and the sciences include both a theory test and a "practicals" or labwork  exam.  It's so competitive that teachers are not allowed to proctor in their own schools, to prevent cheating and favoritism. After each exam is finished, the papers are collected from each student and locked in the school safe.  ALSO, we have police guards at the school, armed with rifles, to monitor the handling of the exams and ensure against leakage of the questions.

The Form IV students graduated two weeks ago, so after the exams they turn in any equipment they have borrowed or been issued--such as their desks and chairs--and are cleared to go home.  Exam results will come out in March.  Then, they will know if they can go to Form V (similar to community college), go to a vocational school, or just try to get some sort of job. Like in the rest of the world, good jobs are hard to come by without education.