Exam Time

Exams at Otjiwarongo Secondary School started on March 29 (a week ago Friday) and end on April 11 (Thursday of this week). There is no teaching during the exam period. The learners are assigned classrooms for the exam period by their grade class and they do not rotate classes. The learners are expected to either be studying independently for their upcoming exams or ‘writing’ an exam. “Writing” is the term used for answering a test or exam. When a learner asks, “Are we writing today?”, they are asking if I am giving them a test.

The day’s schedule during the exam period consists of “Before Break” (BB) and After Break” (AB). Most exams are written BB but due to the number of subjects or an exam having 2 parts, some learners also write AB. The teachers are assigned daily to either ‘invigilate’ or monitor in an exam classroom BB or AB. “Invigilate” is proctoring the learners as they write their exam. Monitoring is just making sure the learners are studying quietly when they are not writing an exam.

The exam’s responsible teacher is explicitly not assigned to invigilate their subjects’ classes. I assume this is to ensure objectivity which does make sense. A teacher can be assigned to one of their subjects’ classes if the learners are not writing but you are not expected to teach, and most teachers don’t. Fortunately, I was able to trade with another teacher and use this time to teach a couple of the lessons that I didn’t cover due to all the schedule changes that took me by surprise this term.

Before Break is from 7:30-10:15, Break is 10:15-10:45, and After Break is 10:45-12:30. As an example, if an exam is BB and the learners have 1.5 hours to complete it, then the learners must study quietly from 7:30-8:40, then write from 8:40am until 10:10, which is 1.5 hours. This allows 5 minutes to collect the exam without missing any of the break.

Try as I might, I don’t think I will ever understand the reasoning behind these exam periods. As you can imagine, AB is not fun because the learners are drained from either ‘studying’ or ‘writing’ BB or both. It is difficult for them to be focused, to be quiet, to stay in their seats. We are instructed every day in our staff meeting to keep the learners quiet, to not let them walk around or lay their heads down, to make sure they study independently.  As a teacher, I walk around the classroom, I stretch, I talk to learners and colleagues. I don’t understand how we can expect learners to not need to do this. Added to this is the expectation of many parents that they also study when they get home.

It also seems like such wasted time. It’s basically 2 weeks that could be used to provide an organized and consistent review of the term with their teacher. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, we are expected to reserve judgement and to try to understand why things are the way they are. I have asked about the structure of the exam period with various colleagues. Some say it is mandated by the Ministry of Education, but I haven’t been able to verify this. Others don’t really like it, but it is just the way it is. Others say it is necessary. The learners must develop discipline, and this is part of the process. Also, it is a scheduling issue, they need the teachers to invigilate.

I don’t like it, but I will keep trying to understand.

All for now with all my love