First ever primary six results slips issued

Also issued at the first time are locally printed Rwanda advanced certificates of education for the high school leavers.

Unveiling the new academic documents on Tuesday, Director General of Rwanda Education Board (REB) Dr Irenée Ndayambaje said the locally made certificates have a high level of security against hacking and falsification risks.

“Another new step is that we have made certificates for 237,181 primary six leavers who sat for national examinations in 2017,” he said.

REB has also printed 44,037 for 2017 high school leavers and 1,172 certificates for those who sat for senior six examinations between 2008 and 2015 but were until today waiting for errors in their certificates to be rectified.

Dr Ndayambaje said Rwandans have been struggling to get a confirmation of primary six results whenever they need it while applying for other higher courses or visas.

They had to go through a rigorous process from schools to REB.

Now every primary six leaver will receive a certificate and keep it themselves.
Contrary to certificates issued in the past, locally printed certificates will not bear a photo of the owner.

Dr Ndayambaje said photos have been causing confusion as people’s face changes over time, making it hard for one to ascertain the photo’s owner.

However, REB has kept photos on 1,172 corrected certificates of those who did senior six national examinations between 2008 and 2015. This intends to keep similar certificates with those issued in that period.

REB has also unveiled a portal in which certificates’ authenticity will be verified in order to prevent falsification. Only new certificates for 2017 high school graduates are in the newly built system but REB has promised to insert certificates of the previous years in a few months ahead.

Referring to the recent commitment of the Ministry of Education to issuing academic certificates in a maximum period of six months from the release of examination results, Dr Ndayambaje said there is an ambition to even shorten this period to three months.

Rwanda advanced certificates of education have been going to Germany for printing, causing delays in being delivered.

For primary six certificates, Dr Ndayambaje said they will bear names of the owner’s parents. This is because primary six leavers are often too young to have other official documents like a national identity card and the fact that they sometimes change their names.