Raila Odinga calls for probe into mass failure of KCSE exam
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Reiterating the country’s need for skilled manpower to achieve growth, the former presidential candidate said transition to university is key to realization of national goals.
The Education ministry, Mr Odinga said, should therefore address concerns raised by parents and teachers’ unions on the failure.
National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga has called for the formation of a taskforce to investigate mass failure in this year’s Form Four national exams.
Mr Odinga, in a statement, on Thursday said the low transition from secondary school to university should be a cause for worry.
'90PC'
“Close to 90 per cent of the KCSE candidates have failed. This is very worrying,” he said.
The results released on Wednesday by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i indicate that only 70,073 out of the 611,952 candidates — just 11.5 per cent — managed the minimum university entry qualification of mean grade C+.
In 2016, some 88,929 qualified.
Reiterating the country’s need for skilled manpower to achieve growth, the former presidential candidate said transition to university is key to realization of national goals.
The Education ministry, Mr Odinga said, should therefore address concerns raised by parents and teachers’ unions on the failure.
“As the country commits resources to free learning and scales up enrolment, the whole purpose and value for money is lost when close to 90 per cent of those students eventually fail,” Mr Odinga said.
KNEC
The former prime minister congratulated teachers and schools that excelled in the national test.
He also recognised the improvements at the Kenya National Examination Council that have seen a reduction in cheating and the speedy release of results.
Teachers unions have dismissed the results as a fraud that had condemned students to mass failure.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) called for a total overhaul of the grading system.
