A total of 48,484 students, including 19,993 females and 28,551 males, will sit for the secondary school examinations in 525 schools nationwide.

By James Chatim

The Ministry of General Education and Instruction on Thursday released the timetable for the 2024 national examinations for both primary and secondary education.

According to Hon. Martin Tako Moyi, the Deputy Minister of General Education and Instruction, the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) will start on Monday, November 18, 2024, and end on Friday, November 22, 2024, while the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) will begin on Monday December 2024 and end by Wednesday December 11, 2024.

According to the Deputy Minister, the total number of candidates is 78,859, with 43,188 males and 35,671 females registered to sit for primary school examinations in 1,814 schools clustered into 520 centres across South Sudan.

On the other hand, a total of 48,484 students, including 19,993 females and 28,551 males, will sit for the secondary school examinations in 525 schools nationwide.

Compared to last year’s 2023 entries, CPE candidates were 69,455, with 38,497 males and 30,988 females, while CSE candidature was 44,871 with 28,179 males and 16,685 females.]

This represents an increment of 9,404, which is 13.5 percent in CPE and 3,613, which is 7.5 percent in CSE entries.

Moyi further said that the results were a sign that the government is making strides in its efforts to register more children in schools, retain and transition them to the next level of education.

The Deputy Minister also informed the supervisors, invigilators and the security that the assessment of students and the integrity of the examination processes are of great significance to the South Sudan National Examinations Council. 

“You play a central role in helping the Council to ensure that security is maintained and the examinations are conducted in a fair and appropriate manner that allows the candidates to sit for the examinations in a suitable environment,” he said.

“You must acquaint yourselves with the security and invigilation guidelines stipulated in the Council’s Examination conduct and Invigilation booklets. All persons who will be involved in management of examinations must read and understand his/her roles as set forth in the guidebook,” the official said.

Meanwhile, South Sudan Vice President for Services Cluster, H.E Hussein Abdelbagi, called for the inclusion of examination marking costs in the 2024/2025 fiscal year budget to avoid result delay after the education ministry took eight months to complete the marking of 2023/2024 SSCSE examination.

Abdelbagi highlighted budget constraints as one of the institution’s biggest challenges in ensuring timely marking of the national examinations.

In July, the National Minister of General Education, Awut Deng, decried the delay in marking of the CSE examination papers and the challenges that faced teachers due to delayed salaries.

The total number of candidates is 78,859, with 43,188 males and 35,671 females registered to sit for primary school examinations.