The Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board has linked improved confidence in public basic education to closer monitoring of examinations, continuous assessment records and school-level reporting.

Speaking in Port Harcourt during a review of basic-education monitoring activities, the Executive Chairman of the Board, Fyneface Akah, said RSUBEB had continued to strengthen the way schools prepare, conduct and report examinations at the primary and junior secondary levels.

“Examination credibility is part of the value of public education,” Akah said. “If records are not properly kept, if scripts are not properly handled, or if incidents are not reported on time, then the system cannot properly know what the child has learnt.”

The Board’s current approach grew from earlier examination-coordination work in Port Harcourt City Local Government Education Authority, where attention was placed on examination timetables, continuous assessment documentation, question-paper custody, invigilation records, incident logs and timely collation of results.

Mrs Moriyike Victor-Obine, who coordinated examination monitoring work in Port Harcourt City LGEA, said the early work showed that schools needed clearer procedures before, during and after examinations.

“The work starts before the pupils sit for the paper,” she said. “Schools must know how they are keeping continuous assessment records, how materials are being handled, who is supervising the examination and how incidents are reported.”

She said continuous assessment should not be treated as ordinary paperwork.

“If continuous assessment is not properly kept, the final result may not tell the truth about what the child has learnt,” Victor-Obine said. “The purpose of assessment is not just to produce scores. It is to help the school know where the child is doing well and where support is needed.”

Akah said the Port Harcourt City experience gave the Board useful lessons on how examination records should move from schools to the LGEA and then to headquarters.

“What we saw from that process is that the Board must be able to trace what happened from the school level to the LGEA and then to headquarters,” he said. “When the records are clear, it becomes easier to know where the problem is and what kind of support is needed.”

The chairman said the reporting pattern had since been extended through LGEA channels across the 23 local government areas of the state.

“We are dealing with hundreds of schools, many teachers and a very large number of pupils,” Akah said. “A weak record in one school may look small, but when the same weakness is repeated across many schools, it affects planning, promotion, teacher support and confidence in public education.”

Dr Mohammed Akhali, World Bank National Consultant for BESDA, who has worked with RSUBEB on literacy and capacity-building activities, said basic education programmes must be followed by evidence of what happens in classrooms and learning centres.

“It is not enough to train people and close the file,” Akhali said. “The important thing is whether the work reaches the child, whether the records show what happened, and whether the state can identify where more support is needed.”

Akah commended LGEA officials, head teachers, examination officers and technical staff of the Board for supporting the process.

“The value is that we are no longer waiting for problems to become public before we ask questions,” he said. “The records coming from the LGAs now help the Board see where intervention is needed, whether it is in supervision, teacher support, Mathematics performance, record-keeping or examination security.”

The Board said it would continue to work through LGEA structures to strengthen examination planning, record-keeping and school monitoring across Rivers State.