School heads warned over class repetition

School heads and principals have been warned against forcing students to repeat classes in a bid to improve their academic performance.

In a circular, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) warned that disciplinary action would be taken against heads reported and found culpable of forcing learners to repeat a class or withdraw from a school.

TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni said the Commission had received numerous complaints from parents, guardians and other stakeholders about secondary school principals and primary school heads forcing learners to repeat classes when they did not attain cut-off grades set by individual schools.

"The Commission would like to inform all principals, head teachers and school boards of management that these practices are irregular, illegal and punishable under the law and the Code of Regulations for Teachers," the circular reads partly.

Improve ranking

TSC said other learners were pressured to seek transfers to other schools when they failed to meet the set grades, adding that the irregular practice was primarily intended to help the schools improve their ranking in national exams.

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Section 35(2) of the Basic Education Act provides that exclusion of learners from school is only allowed after following due process as set out in the Act.

The Act also stipulates that learners who do not attain set performance targets should be helped to improve their performance through prescribed remedial teaching.

Parents and guardians of learners who are forced to repeat classes or leave school on account of poor grades have now been encouraged to report to their respective TSC county directors for action to be taken.

Incidents of forced repetition have been prevalent in Form Three in secondary schools, and Standard Seven in primary schools. In some schools, administrators transfer pupils to satellite schools and leave the bright pupils in a particular school for a better performance in the national exams.

In a study, the Kenya National Examinations Council established that repetition does not help improve students' grades.