A TOTAL of 1 094 out of 1 428 applications for the re-marking of 2017 Grade 10 and Grade 12 examination scripts still have to be effected, the education ministry confirmed on Wednesday after complaints from applicants that the re-marking process was too slow.
The complaints come as the 2018 registration processes at tertiary institutions and Namcol wind down, and applicants fear missing out on registering for the year.
The option of applying for exam scripts to be re-marked exists for Grade 10 and Grade 12 pupils who are not satisfied with the marks they received during the national examinations.
Many pupils who miss out on a pass or university qualification grade by one or two points apply for re-marking with the hope of picking up the needed points to either progress to Grade 11, or qualify for tertiary education.
Education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa said in early January that pupils had until 19 July to apply for the re-marking of examination papers which they were not happy with.
Education spokesperson Absalom Absalom told last week that some of the pupils who applied for a re-mark have received their marks, but others were still waiting for a re-mark, or for the results.
The ministry’s director of national examinations and assessment, Tsumis Garises, yesterday told The Namibian that out of 808 applications for Grade 10, 311 scripts had been marked and responses sent to regional education offices.
She added that the other 497 scripts were “ready for disbursement to the markers”.
As for the Grade 12 applications, 620 pupils applied for scripts to be re-marked, and 415 were ready for marking.
Garises said 23 applicants have been given feedback, as their requests had been urgent, while 205 scripts still had to be pulled for re-marking.
Absalom said the ministry usually aimed to have re-marking completed by the time registration at tertiary education institutions started, or at least by the time late registration came around so that pupils still have a chance to register.
“The actual marking is not what takes long, it is the physical pulling of the script from thousands of scripts that takes up most of the time,” he explained.
Some Grade 12 pupils told that they applied for re-marking several days before the deadline, but were still waiting for the results.
One of the pupils, who declined to be named for fear of being victimised during re-marking, said he feels like giving up on going to university this year because registration for his preferred course had already closed, and “by the look of things, the results will not be out by the time late registration starts and ends”.
“It is almost like it is better to get a fail than to get a pass. And what makes me feel even more hopeless and weak is that I was accepted with my second-term marks. I don’t know how I went from an A to an E,” the Grade 12 pupil lamented.
The ministry’s spokesperson admitted that there were delays in the re-marking process.
He said that aside from the pulling of the exam scripts taking long, delays were also caused by communication issues between schools, the regional education office and education’s head office.
Absalom said the ministry was aware of Grade 10 pupils who needed one mark to qualify for Grade 11, and who had applied for a re-mark in the hope of obtaining that one point.
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