According to the students, the officials were among the “boils” that should have been emptied.
“We have asked the minister to take action against these officials
who have failed us...it is impossible for 164 students to sit for
examinations and 162 (98.78 Per cent) of them fail, while only two have
passed,” said Juma Mramba, one of the students, who were waiting outside
the head office of the Ministry of Health, Community Development,
Gender, Elderly and Children in Dar es Salaam.
Presenting their complaints before the deputy minister, Dr Khamis
Kigwangwala, the students, who had completed the second year of Clinical
Officer course (NTA Level 5) and sat for their examinations on February
24, 2016, said: “We don’t trust the results we were given by the chief
external examiner, Dr Saitore Laizer.”
They said there were many flaws in marking the examination papers
by the chief external examiner, which had caused 162 out of the 164
students to fail their examinations.
“These results are not just. We don’t accept them. That is why we
have come to meet the minister in order to get our rights,” explained
Jackson Chunde, one of the students’ leaders.
The students levelled their complaints against senior officials of
the Directorate Of Studies, Dr Saitore Laizer and Dr Bumi, alleging that
they were boils that needed to be squeezed as soon as possible. They
said the officials were stumbling blocks because they were causing
inefficiency in the institute and development in the country, especially
private colleges.
“These officials are arrogant and for a long time have been
oppressing private colleges by failing students intentionally; they
violate many regulations and rules governing studies in health
institutes. At one time Dr Bumi was heard saying ‘…there is nobody who
can do anything to me,’” the students alleged.
They asked the deputy minister to remove the officials from the Directorate of Studies in the ministry.
Giving an example, Hubert Matiko, one of the students’ leaders,
said the Directorate of Studies in the ministry had been using external
examiners, who were also owners of health institutes, to mark
examinations of other health institutes, even though they had a conflict
of interest, thus causing favouritism.
The students asked the minister to form an independent commission,
which would exclude the Directorate of Studies, to supervise theoretical
and practical health examinations in the country.
Deciding on the spot, Dr Kigwangwala, directed all 162 students
from Tandabuhi Institute of Health Sciences and Technology, who had
failed in their examinations to resit their examinations and that they
would be marked by independent doctors, who did not take sides.
Until this time, it is not known which party between the students
and the ministry, would cater for the expenses of re-sitting the exams.
Tomorrow morning, the deputy minister will meet with the students’
representatives to discuss the implementation of what has been agreed
upon, including the party that will take care of the costs of re-sitting
the examinations.
No comments:
Post a Comment