The examination period happens to be MKUR’s (Mount Kenya University Rwanda) most busiest time during the semester.
All corners of the school get filled up; from the main gate, to the library, teacher’s offices, lecture rooms among others as students try to ‘leave no stone un turned’ before the D-day.
The ‘heat’ is felt not only by the students, but also the staff especially those in the finance office.
“This period is very busy for us, no student is allowed to sit for exams without a clearance and as much as we would like to help them in time, sometimes its beyond our control”, Nicholas a staff in the finance office explained when I asked him about the reason behind the long queue at his office.
He however extended his thanks to those students who devise means to get their clearances on time and urged the rest to ‘pick a leaf’ so as to avoid inconveniences.
Speaking to one of the students in the queue; Louise from the faculty of education although optimistic about passing her exam for the day as she had revised prior to coming to school, she was disappointed in the way ‘things’ were handled at the finance office.
“There’s limited staff to attend to us and yet we are many, am only grateful that I revised before coming here”, she noted.
The ICT department of the school is also faced with ‘traffic’ during this period as hundreds of students try to access their ‘portals’ for course work results and clearances.
Still on my tour within the school trying to assess the atmosphere surrounding the examination period, I came across a one ‘Jane’ a student from the faculty of education who seemed restless.
On asking her what the matter was, her response was, “things have not been easy for me today since morning am trying to access my students portal to have my clearance card printed, the network is down yet I have an exam in the afternoon”. I
In the Library, the staff there are on their toes all day helping students finalize their research projects, directing them to the relevant resources and guiding them on how to utilize them.
Nevertheless, there are some students who despite the commotion surrounding the exam period, they are calm.
Uwase Novella a second year student in the faculty of media and mass communication said, “when it comes to printing out my clearance card, I do it as soon as the portal is open for ‘lecturer evaluation’ and take it to the finance office for stamping before it gets crowded”.
As for revision, she encourages fellow students to not wait till the last minute to approach lecturers for explanations on topics they didn’t understand, “get your notes on time, seek assistance from students ahead of you if at all you can’t get hold of the lecturer”.
“Exams are hard only if you don’t prepare on time, remember he who fails to prepare, prepares to fail”, she added.
