KCPE: Sheng blamed as candidates post poor results

Sheng is the leading cause of poor performance in Kiswahili. Kiswahili scholars Kitula King’ei and Kimani Njogu also singled out poor attitude, a difficult syllabus and overburdened teachers.

“The overbearing influence of Sheng is a leading cause of bad performance in Kiswahili among pupils,” said Prof King’ei.

The scholars warned things will only get worse if these factors were not addressed.

On Tuesday, Education minister Sam Ongeri ordered Education secretary George Godia to investigate why pupils were performing poorly in the subject.

Analysis of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam results shows performance in Kiswahili has been dropping over the years.

In Kiswahili Objective, candidates scored an average of 52 per cent, down from 57 per cent last year and 50 per cent in Insha compared to 56 per cent the previous year.

Even though girls performed better than boys; there was an average drop of four per cent for both gender from last year.

The scholars said the pervasive use of Sheng was making it difficult for students to master Kiswahili, especially in urban schools.

“The undue influence of Sheng has made it unclear for the pupils to use formal words in Kiswahili,” Prof King’ei said. As a result, students were answering questions in Sheng.

Prof Njogu pointed out that the use of Sheng was not a problem, as long as pupils could distinguish between the language to use in official and social settings.

“We understand that Sheng has its place in the society today and we cannot refute that. However, pupils need not use it in the school compounds,” he said.

“Teaching Kiswahili requires an intensive contact time between teachers and pupils obviously a factor that is amiss in schools today,” said Prof King’ei.

The Kenyatta University scholar posited that teachers are too overburdened to teach the subject which requires practice, creativity and imagination.

“The only time that learners use Kiswahili in the time table is when the subject is being taught.” He said English, on the other hand, enjoys a wider usage since all subjects are taught in the language.

Prof Njogu, who is also Chama cha Kiswahili cha Kitaifa boss, blamed the low scores on poor attitude. “Most pupils believe that their upward mobility in life cannot be pegged on their proficiency in the language,” he said.

He added that books “are mostly teacher-oriented rather than focusing on the learners where they master the language gradually from the known to unknown concepts.”

Prof Njogu said they had raised the matter with the curriculum developer, Kenya Institurte of Education, to no avail.

“We forwarded such complaints to the Kenya Institute of Education about two years ago.” The institute’s director, Mrs Lydia Nzomo, could not be reached for comment.

Prof King’ei noted that most pupils were bombarded with difficult Kiswahili words. “There is too much emphasis on learning new vocabulary than how to use the language for day to day communication.

“The problem with this is that the pupils will get to learn new words and coinages (referring to compound words) during their exam time.”