Nasa promises to abolish Standard Eight exam
National Super Alliance presidential candidate Raila Odinga addresses supporters during the launch of the coalition's manifesto in Nairobi, on June 27, 2017. PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA | AFP
What you need to know:
- Nasa says the aim will also be to arrest the high secondary school dropout rate.
- Nasa is also promising to expand secondary school infrastructure with a target of closing the gap between primary school leavers and Form One places in the next five years.
- Nasa says that through free primary education introduced by the Narc government in 2003, it will maintain close to 100 per cent enrolment at this level.
The National Super Alliance has promised to abolish the Standard Eight examination and provide free secondary education to all children if it wins the August 8 General Election.
In its manifesto, the coalition states that the decision to stop the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education tests is aimed at ensuring that every child gets a place in secondary school.
“The culture and terminology of ‘failures’ and ‘dropout’ will be a thing of the past.
No child should be condemned to this stigma by an examination whose only purpose is to eliminate those who it does not have school places for,” Nasa says in its manifesto that was unveiled in Nairobi on Tuesday.
SCHOOL DROPOUT RATE
It further says the aim will also be to arrest the high secondary school dropout rate.
Nasa is also promising to expand secondary school infrastructure with a target of closing the gap between primary school leavers and Form One places in the next five years.
It has pledged to expand the teacher training capacity to ensure maintenance of the appropriate teacher-student ratio.
“The Jubilee Government years have been a total loss for education.
Our progress towards realisation of the right to education remains where the Narc and grand coalition government left,” says the manifesto.
COMPLETE PRIMARY SCHOOL
It says that only half of the number of children who complete primary school are proceeding to secondary school.
The coalition has set the goal of achieving universal secondary education within the next decade.
The current transition rate stands at 83.93 per cent after it improved from 82.05 per cent in 2016, which saw 790,680 out of 942,021 students join Form One this year.
100 PER CENT ENROLMENT
Nasa says that through free primary education introduced by the Narc government in 2003, it will maintain close to 100 per cent enrolment at this level.
“But many challenges of infrastructure and quality remain. The Nasa government will ensure it will delegate school infrastructure development to counties and give them conditional grants,” says the document.
The document further says Nasa will pursue “innovative ways of financing higher education infrastructure, including public-private partnership and education bonds”.
The coalition has promised to progressively expand disbursement of higher education loans – presently limited to universities – to cover all post-secondary institutions.
