Kuppet opposes plan to scrap KCPE exams
What you need to know:
- The United Democratic Forum party has welcomed calls to scrap KCPE.
- Industrialisation assistant minister Ndiritu Muriithi, who is allied to UDF, said the move would free pupils from the yoke of KCPE exams that prevented many children from getting secondary education.
A teachers’ union has opposed calls by some MPs for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams to be scrapped.
Officials of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) from Kisumu, Migori, Nyamira and Siaya counties said the 25-year-old KCPE exams determine a pupil’s ability and the secondary school he or she will be placed.
Scrapping them will lead to poor performance by pupils, they added.
Kisumu County Kuppet chairman Zablon Awange criticised the ongoing push for the ban, saying the introduction of a continuous education system from Class One to Form Four will be the end of a competitive era for learners at primary and post- primary levels.
The teachers urged lawmakers to, instead, concentrate on ensuring that more funds are allocated for free primary and secondary education under tight audit controls to improve learning.
Education minister Mutula Kilonzo earlier supported the abolition of the KCPE exams, saying this would provide an uninterrupted education system.
This will accord all Kenyan learners universal basic education, he added.
The minister was quoted saying that pupils cannot use the KCPE certificate for anything because they are still too young.
Migori County Kuppet chairman Kennedy Makasembo said the minister should, instead, fight for the KCPE exams to be maintained.
He said the prolonged period from primary school to secondary school without national examinations would make students less serious with tests.
“The government should consider how the Kenya National Examinations Council can be reformed to improve the syllabus. For instance, ideas on how to assess performance in co-curricular activities in school should be looked into,” said Mr Makasembo.
He added that school-based tests lack credibility and can be manipulated by teachers and there will be no transparency in the transition of students from one year to the next.
Siaya County Kuppet secretary Wilfred Odhiambo said the KCPE exams should not be scrapped as they are part of Kenya’s education culture.
“Through these national exams, progress on coverage of the syllabus can be gauged,” he said.
Nyamira County Kuppet secretary Lewis Nyakwenda also opposed plans to scrap the examinations.
