Parents call for KCPE to be abolished

What you need to know:

  • Examination locks out pupils from secondary school, says lobby group

Parents and an education expert want the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination scrapped as “it denied children their right to basic education”.

They propose that an assessment and certification method be introduced after secondary school.

Kenya National Parents Association (KNPA) chairman Musau Ndunda said KCPE certificates were irrelevant and unhelpful to children as they were not pegged on learners’ skills and competencies and did not build them into self-reliant citizens.

New board

“The new Constitution gives children the right to attend school uninterrupted for 14 years — from nursery to secondary school. But the KCPE examination locks out pupils from secondary school,” he said.

The parents’ lobby, however, noted that the National Education Board in the Basic Education Act enacted by Parliament could advise the government on how children could transit to secondary school without sitting for KCPE exam.

Mr Mwakera Mndwamrombo, an education expert, agreed that there should be a new system of evaluating students based on their skills and talents.

He said the current system was content-based and did not nurture skills and talents of children from an early age thereby locking them out of future  employment opportunities.