After years of delay students in north sit exams

Students in the rebel-held north of Cote d’Ivoire, their educations stopped cold by conflict, have begun sitting school exams after more than two years of doubt. The exams opened to mixed reactions in the northern city of Korhogo, most students and parents happy to move past years of limbo, but others complaining that after such a long wait the government – who announced less than two weeks ago that the exams would go forward – should have given more notice. Issiaka Soro, one of nearly 9,000 students expected to sit the final secondary school leaving exam, the “baccalaureat,” said, “I am very happy that the exams are being held. Of course, my most ardent wish is to succeed, because we have been in limbo for too long.” After years of utter uncertainty for more than 90,000 students, oral exams began in the north on Monday, with teachers from around the country present to supervise, along with officials of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Mission in Cote d’Ivoire. Written tests are to take place 2 March to 4 March. Some students and parents said after such a long hiatus they were caught off-guard by the government announcement two weeks ago that exams would go forward and their results would probably show it. “There should have been a month’s delay between announcing the tests and holding them. [People] were surprised by these dates,” said Bintou Doumbia, waiting for her daughter at the Houphouet-2 secondary school, which carries the name of the country’s first president. Doumbia said many in remote villages were not aware exams were being held in Korhogo. One teacher said the initial results he saw are weak. “Generally the level is low, at least for those students I interrogated,” Spanish teacher Yaya Konate said. “It’s understandable. They did not have much time to study. Most had put away their books; they had given up hope.” Another teacher, who declined to be named, said only seven of 23 students on his list showed up for the oral exams. But Deborah Williams, overseeing the process at the College Bema secondary school, said exams might be extended, as students continued to arrive – some of them returning from the south for the tests. Even among those participating in the tests, for some uncertainty still reigns. “My concern is now about my diploma,” Ramatou Sanogo said. “What if it is refused later because it has been obtained in a war zone?” Exams for 2003-04 and 2004-05 were cancelled due to the conflict triggered by a failed coup that split the country into a government-controlled south and rebel-held north. By 2005 over 93,000 students had paid fees, awaiting exams, but the government said it was too dangerous to send teachers in to supervise. Teachers, judges and other civil servants left jobs in the north after the start of war, heading for the south where civil service pay continued uninterrupted. Schools in the north operated with the help of volunteer teachers. The Ivorian rebels have long slammed the government of President Laurent Gbagbo for failing to organise exams in the north, calling it “cultural genocide.” Sanogo, who hopes she will still be able to apply to university, said, “Politics have greatly wronged us.”