Migori teachers reject proposals to merge KPSEA candidates in smaller institutions

A section of schools in Migori County has opposed proposals by the government to merge examination centres for schools with less than 30 learners sitting the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) exams.  

Led by their headteachers and directors, the schools argued that some of the centres where they were merged are far away and will give learners a hard time sitting for the exams scheduled to start next week.

The school headteachers claimed that this would also affect learners’ performance and would force parents and schools to dig deep into their pockets to foot extra expenses that came with the merging.

Ruphine Oloo, a headteacher at Rose Hill School which has 22 candidates that are going to sit for the KEPSEA exams, said their learners would be required to go to another school which she claimed is far.

“The distance is too far from the school and merging them at one place before transporting them to the examination centre is going to be a challenge. This would also mean that the school and parents spend extra,” Ms Oloo said.

According to the school heads and directors, a sudden change of environment would shock the learners who they claimed might end up performing poorly.

“Learners are used to doing their examinations here and this is the first time we are being asked to take our learners to another examination centre. It is also a rainy season, and we don't know how it is going to be,” Mrs Rose Misori, a school director said.

Their sentiments come at a time when the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) had issued a directive that primary and secondary schools with less than 30 candidates would not be registered as examination centres.

Martin Awino, a director for Matoso Comprehensive School in Muhuru, Nyatike Sub-County said schools in remote areas would suffer the most as they were far apart.

“It would be more tiresome for learners having to trek long distances to reach examination centres,” Mr Awino said.

Additionally, school heads pleaded with the government to treat children from both private and public schools equally.

“All children belong to Kenya. You cannot say this is a private child and that one is a public child. They all belong to the government and hence need equal treatment,” Chilla Maxwell, a head teacher at Goldfields School said.

He said they felt discriminated against when it came to government capitation to schools and distribution of books.

Moreover, school representatives asked the government to address challenges which included inadequate resources in schools that made them struggle to keep up with the syllabus and prepare for KEPSEA examinations.

Henry Okeyo who is a teacher at Othora Comprehensive School in Nyatike Sub-County said the learning digital gadgets that were brought to the school are not enough.

“This made learning very difficult. They were brought according to the number of learners that were there and now the population has increased,” Okeyo said.