Eswatini, others want out of Cambridge accreditation
MBABANE – In a bid to cut on the costs of examination, the SAAEA representatives are in the kingdom to discuss possibilities of forming a local accreditation Board.
Currently, CamEridge, in the 8nited .ingdom (8.), is responsiEle for accrediting most of the countries, especially in the southern $frican region. S$$E$ stands for Sourthen $frica $ssocciation for Education $ssessment.
/ocal pupils are reTuired to pay around E 00 each to sit for the CamEridge examinations, depending on the numEer of suEjects taNen. This, according to the chief executive officers (CEOs) under the examinations councils in the southern $frican countries, is too expensive.
Representatives
$ total of nine CEO representatives from memEer countries under S$$E$, which are Eswatini, %ostwana, /esotho, Malawi, 1amiEia, South $frica, Tan]ania, =amEia and =imEaEwe, are in the country to attend the meeting. In an interview with the Examinations Council of Eswatini (ECES:$) 5egistrar 'r Mandla 'lamini, currently a lot of money was paid to the CamEridge $ccreditation %oard. 'r 'lamini said all the money paid Ey the learners was directed to CamEridge, without any reserves left Eehind for the countries. However, he said some of the funds were directed towards operational costs, including significantly reduced. He said despite that most of the worN was done Ey the individual countries, including setting of the examinations, approving and marNing, they still had to pay most of the funds to the accreditation %oard for the recognition of the certificate. 'r 'lamini said the talNs held included that southern $frica should certify the examinations. $ccording to 'r 'lamini, the currencies were also different, maNing an example with /ilangeni versus Pounds, which he said made the accreditation very expensive for the countries within the region.
Examination
³If talNs centred on the accreditation are successful, it will maNe the examination fees much cheaper compared to the present ones,´ he added.
The registrar stated that Ey forming their own accreditation Eody, they would Ee aEle to Tuality assure themselves. He said as examination %oards, they were hoping to share ideas and challenges they faced, EenchmarN issues of assessments and improve in the manner they handled some of their issues. Meanwhile, he said /esotho tooN a giant step Ey coming out to stand on its own, as they would Ee sitting for the last time this year under the CamEridge examination.
'lamini said Eswatini was also piloting a four-year programme in high schools, which was undertaNen Ey 2 schools. In this programme, he said the pupils learnt for four years in high school, adding that an exam had already Eeen set for those learners who were doing year two under the same programme this year. Instead of )orm I to 9, the registrar said there would Ee year one to four. He said the aEove was also part of the country¶s strategy to meet the standards and for the learners to avoid spending more years in high school.
Qualification
'lamini said after the four years of high school, the pupil could then do the $dvanced SuEsidiary ($S) and $dvanced ($) /evels Tualification, which is a higher schooling certificate in order to Ee admitted to universities anywhere in the world. 'lamini said currently, if the pupil attended the five years of high school under the International *eneral Certificate of Secondary Education (I*CSE) programme, they were reTuired to do a Eridging course.
He said they were trying to avoid this Eecause it delayed the learners and not Eecause the local programme was weaN, Eut Eecause other countries had their own standards for examinations. 'lamini said they were trying, therefore, to harmonise the examinations across the southern $frica region to cut across the Eoard. However, he said the country needed to upgrade from I*CSE to $S or $ /evels. Examinations Council of =amEia¶s 'r Michael Chilala said assessment was a Eig challenge Eecause of all the major things that were reTuired. 'r Chilala stated that the Ney thing was that it should predict correctly and the score should mean the person could Euild society up to a certain extent.