Africa-Press – Tanzania. Dar es Salaam.
The National Examinations Council of Tanzania (Necta) has come up with an electronic exam marking system that is expected to cut costs and eliminate possible malpractices that may occur during marking, it was revealed yesterday.
Being the first in Africa and which has been created in the country, according to Necta, the new system is a technological upgrade that will replace the current Conveyor Belt System that is used manually in marking exams.
Speaking about the one-year success of the government under President Samia Suluhu Hassan in the education sector, the minister for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Adolf Mkenda, noted that the new system under Necta was going to set another milestone in the docket.
“Within a year of the sixth phase government, a revolution is already underway in the examination marking. The new Electric Marking System is going to cut costs and improve transparency,” said Prof Mkenda.
But, to get more information about the system, after the Education ministry meeting which brought together heads of various educational institutions, The Citizen spoke with Necta executive secretary Charles Msonde who elaborated on the new system which is now at the pilot level.
Dr Msonde said this was one of the great achievements of the current government which had given Necta funds to execute the idea behind the new system.
He said the new system would not change the whole marking of the exams as the markers were still teachers and examination officers.
What would change, according to him, is that the examiners would no longer be housed in marking centres which meant high cost for accommodation, food and subsistence allowances.
“They will mark the exams while at school or in their colleges. The selection process of markers will be done as usual,” he said.
He noted that in the current system (conveyor belt system), the markers are in the same room, everyone is assigned a single question which, when completed, is handed over to the next marker for the following question until the last question, thus costing time and money.
“Now, with this new system, the appointed markers will do the job from wherever they are because they would be provided with the equipment. They will be required to have a passport-size photo and the name only,” Dr Msonde explained.
“So during the marking, if one enters the password and name, the system will open and direct the marker to the only question he or she has been assigned to mark,” he noted. The system shows the marking guide, distribution of marks and when marking is complete, the question disappears.
“In that question, the examiner only sees the student’s answer. They will not be able to see school name nor the student’s exam number, district or region the candidate is from,” he noted.
“The system is currently undergoing a final test before it can be used by markers.”
“When this system is implemented, it will save Sh550 million annually.”
“It is the Council’s expectations that in the next four years all national examinations will be digitally marked,” he said, adding that was a major improvement that the whole of Africa does not have and now Tanzania was going to be put on a unique map on the continent.
Standard Seven marking
In the primary school leaving examination, Dr Msonde said that it was during this period of the sixth phase government that a major revolution was carried out by local experts.
He said Tanzania has been importing Standard Seven examination papers popularly known as optical mark readers which are filled out with answers and marked through specialized ICT machines since 2012. “Our specialists sat down and came up with a special answer sheet and devised a system to get them marked locally,” he noted.
“Starting in 2021, the national primary school leaving examination pupils used our own answer sheets and marking done locally,” he said, adding that Tanzania was the first in Africa to become self-sufficient in such technologies.
He said the technology has simplified the process of marking, increased efficiency and saved Sh240 million annually and made Tanzania the first country in Africa to develop its own answer sheet and marking systems.
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