The DRC adopts a Manual of State Examination Procedures 56 years later

The Minister of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education, Professor Tony Mwaba Kazadi, has released and submitted the State Examination Procedures Manual (EXETAT) to the General Inspectorate of Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education. This is a working document that outlines the process from the registration of final-year students through to the publication of the State Examination results. Indeed, this manual will formalize EXETAT procedures nationwide to enable stakeholders to address several challenges, particularly in managing deadlines, handling larger student numbers each year, composing and drafting test items in strict compliance with guidelines, printing and packaging test booklets, grading, and publishing results. The handover ceremony took place in Kinshasa on Monday, October 23, 2023, in the meeting room of Radio-Télé de l’Éducation. Professor Tony Mwaba Kazadi presented this handbook to the Inspector General of the EPST, Mr. Jacques Odia Musungayi, in the presence of the Secretary General of the EPST, Christine Nepa Nepa. This marks yet another innovation at the EPST under the leadership of Professor Tony Mwaba. This innovation comes 56 years after the establishment of the State Examination. After receiving the manual from the Minister, the Inspector General of the EPST, Jacques Odia Musungayi, symbolically handed it over in turn to a handful of the senior provincial inspectors present. The head of the inspectors urged everyone to follow all the steps outlined in this procedures manual. Speaking in the same vein, Minister Tony Mwaba invited the inspectors to make full use of this manual to improve the State Examination’s certification assessment system. "But now, the whole problem is this manual. Is it just a piece of paper we’ve cobbled together that will end up gathering dust in our archives, or will this manual actually help our certification assessment system—as we’ve said—from the registration of final-year students to the publication of State Exam results?..."This manual needs to serve some purpose," Tony Mwaba asserted. In addition, the minister ordered the urgent distribution of this manual to all provincial chief inspectors. "And the provincial chief inspectors will each organize themselves accordingly, making copies and making them available to other stakeholders within their jurisdiction," he stated. As a reminder, the workshop to develop this manual was launched on October 5 by Minister Tony Mwaba Kazadi. This three-day meeting brought together the Deputy Inspectors General, the IPPs from 60 educational provinces of the DRC, as well as several other senior officials from this sub-sector. Moise Dianyishayi