Schools shouldn't replace active learning with tests and revisions

Too many tests lead to stress and pressure on learners. [iStockphoto]

The headteacher of Ultimate Leader Muumandu Hills Academy, Johnathan Nguta, was over the moon following the sterling performance of his school in the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination.

With 17 candidates, it had a mean score of 406 marks. He attributed the performance to numerous tests that Standard Eight pupils are subjected to; at least 150 exams—three per week. But he didn’t know that he was incriminating himself for replacing sound education with tests. Ministry of Education guidelines set official school hours from 8am to 3:30pm.

Factor in the breaks and you are left with six hours for learning. According to the 2022 Knec KCPE timetable, it takes 10 hours and 35 minutes to finish the five papers. It, therefore, took the school a day and a half to finish one exam. For the three exams per week, the school was setting aside four and a half days a week!

Even without factoring in the revision of the exams, the week is gone. So, no learning at all takes place in that school. Learners are mercilessly turned into objects of competition with other schools and their peers in a scramble for students.

Subjecting learners to that number of exams is harmful. The long-term harm inflicted on those children will take years to correct, if at all.

First, exams change the intention education was made to serve - from preparing children for citizenship to opening their minds and hearts to passing exams. Ask any adult Kenyan to justify how educated they are and their response will be what they scored in Standard Eight and Form Four and how they graduated with an honours degree. Our education system has been turned into a series of testing stages; all the learners take home is their grade.

Secondly, too many tests turn learners who should actually be friends into competitors. They create a toxic environment that does not support learning. The physical, social and cultural factors must be tuned in a way that is appropriate for all learners. The rivalry that sprouts out of the exams can end up breeding enmity. Some learners withhold any material that could make their classmates ‘smarter’.

Thirdly, too many tests lead to stress and pressure on learners. Learning cannot take place in a school setting where learners are under constant pressure to prove their worth through tests. Where learners are in perpetual fear of failing yet under immense pressure to perform from teachers and parents. The resultant psychological stress manifests in the form of learners withdrawing from school emotionally, if not physically, and low self-esteem.

Lastly, these tests, even if they were to be fewer, serve no educational purpose. They are not designed by teachers of these schools but supplied by business people whose only stake in such matters is to make money.

They are manufactured complete with marking schemes. All the teacher does is mark answer sheets to determine who best possesses the superficial knowledge acquired by cramming. He will then be back to the classroom for revision, strictly following the marking scheme to supply “right answers” to learners. As a result, learners who have never been taught, meet concepts for the first time in exams and the “right answers “that are supplied by the teacher during revision have to be accepted without questions.

The Ministry of Education should pronounce itself on this issue and ensure learners get the opportunity to learn as opposed to being drilled to pass exams.