It is encouraging that there were no major cases of cheating in the 2019 KCPE exams. Those who attempted to engage in cheating were nipped in the bud.
Sadly, there are pockets of gullible students and parents who still believe in reaping where they have not sown. Prior, to 2016, cheating was the order of the day.
Delay in releasing exams compounded the problem by providing room for officials to cook results hence spurious ranking of candidates and schools.
With new rules, cheating will soon be a thing of the past. And while I commend the Education CS for fulfilling his promise to release the 2019 KCPE exams within the shortest time possible, his push for 100 per cent transition of students from primary to secondary schools may prove a tall order.
Despite the employment of 5,000 secondary school teachers and 10,000 interns by Teachers Service Commission, there is a deep-seated problem of infrastructure in public schools which must be addressed first.
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Again, the results released last Monday contained some disturbing statistics.
Apart from the 5,530 KCPE candidates who failed to sit the exams, the number of those who scored 400 marks and above plummeted to 9,770 candidates from 11,559 the previous year.
But the number of those scoring between 301 and 400 marks slightly increased to 243,320 compared to the 2018 where the number stood at 223,862.
Generally, candidates from public schools performed well but were still outdone by their counterparts from private schools as has been the case over the years.
We must find a way to handle increased enrolment due to free education.
