Finally! Let’s celebrate that Kenya has credible examinations

When the education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i recently released the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results before Christmas, the news was met with cheers and jeers.

 

After the 2017 KCSE results were released, the CS was told to explain the mass failure where only 70,073 students scored the university cut off point of C+ and above. In 2016, 88,929 attained university entry grades.

 

As Matiang’i strongly puts it, Kenya has been rejoicing in fake results of numerous A grades while failing to address why children failing exams.

 

The fact of the matter is that examination results were in the past being sold to the highest bidder. Besides, school heads and teachers used to aid examination cheating for the benefit of their schools. That is why you would find over 200 As in one school alone. Consequently, many students “qualified” to join public universities. However, we lacked the capacity to absorb these students eventually leading to the mushrooming of public and private universities.

This trend has eroded the quality of education offered even at higher levels. Learning entities have compromised the quality of education and focused on growing student numbers. Such institutions will even steal KCSE exams for their students.

The reforms in the education sector, for example, the textbook policy and the new curriculum system are all aimed at addressing this elephant in the room.

For once, every student in a class will get access to textbooks. This was a fantasy before. Students lacked textbooks and two textbooks had to be shared among 40 students. The government will now ensure every student gets textbooks and hence improve learning.

 

In addition, the new curriculum moves away from exam oriented students to skill oriented students who are tested based on their skills. There will be no such thing as "failure" as the CS rightfully puts it.

 

Every student will have a place to go to after sitting their exams. There will be technical schools to absorb students based on their abilities as opposed to an exam. Students will be evaluated over a long period of time which will then be factored in their final exams. This will encourage learning and improve the quality of education.

Those against reform in the education sector should stop criticizing the education CS and join hands with him. It will help Kenya finally leapfrog into the list of developed countries.