Exams have exposed gaps in education

There is a lot to celebrate from the 2017 KCPE results. It still surprises me how quickly these results are released these days. It is also commendable that there were no cases of cheating and so all candidates will get their results.

The most important story of the week, however, has revolved around the top candidate, Goldalyn Kakuya. Kakuya has albinism and the major debate of the week was how to report her success. It appeared most people overemphasized her condition. Others wanted us to see her as ‘just a person’; and by extension, pay no regard to her albinism.

In my view, both perspectives are misleading. Overemphasising a person’s disability is unfortunate because it runs the risk of dehumanising the individual and taking away their agency. Albinism is certainly one part of Goldalyn Kakuya, but it is not the ‘whole’ of her. She needs to be presented as more than a person with albinism – and who has certainly achieved great success in her education. In pursuit of a balanced reporting, an issue to perhaps consider is how her success would have been reported if she had an unseen disability.

But equally troubling, if perhaps less obvious, is the counter-reaction that sought to disregard her disability altogether. Pushed to its logical conclusion, this position essentially holds that ‘disability does not matter’, which is both manifestly untrue and unjust. It makes nonsense of all the affirmative action efforts we have been making. Disabled people are marginalised and discriminated against; they do not have the same access to opportunities as people without disability. There can be no justification for covering up social injustices against them.

For instance, Kakuya’s acknowledgement of the support she has received from the Albinism Society of Kenya for things she needed for education indicates a gap in the state’s provision to children with disability.

This is borne out in a 2014 report by the Kenya National Human Rights Commission which noted that the existent policy mechanisms for inclusion of children with disabilities, such as the Special Needs Education Policy, have failed in implementation. A 2008 survey had estimated that only a sixth of children with disabilities attend school. Consequently, the educational outcomes of children with disability are still low.

The other story of the week was the announcement that the son of the late Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru will sit a special national exam. It drew our attention to the fact that special circumstances do not only relate to disability.

As a result, we have had the opportunity to discuss the cruelty of our educational system. Expectedly, the announcement attracted diverse reactions. In my view, the question of whether this would have been done for any other person is neither here nor there. What matters is that we now have the opportunity to ensure we are catering for special circumstances of children facing national exams.

My concern is that we should not rely on the sympathy or kindness of our leaders but rather, we ought to ensure that these mechanisms are formalised. Undoubtedly, attempts to institute ‘special examinations’ will be treated with suspicion due to the significant trust deficit we suffer as a country.

The process of defining what constitutes ‘special circumstances’ and how they are to assessed must be an open and inclusive one. Furthermore, such definitions and the implementation of the mechanisms must be subject to reviews to ensure they are not being abused. Whenever they get back to work, the National Assembly’s Education committee has work cut out for it. They must ensure that the government is doing better to facilitate the education of children with disabilities and also formalise special exams.

-The writer is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh. Kamau.wairuri@outlook.com