Containers that gave principals sleepless nights

If you meet any school head who had a candidate class this year and mention the word “container”, you are sure to get a definite reaction ranging from shock, terror, paranoia, amusement or camouflaged indifference.

The container was the focal point of the national examinations this year.

This is the facility from which exam papers would be collected every morning and answer sheets returned to every afternoon. 

The facility had two padlocks. The sub-county director of education was the custodian of the key to one padlock and the deputy county commissioner custodian of the key to the second padlock.

The opening of the container was an elaborate ritual.

School heads would gather to witness the magic keys at work and to ascertain that the examination materials were intact before signing off their exams for the day.

All this may sound simple and straightforward but when you consider that in the first week of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations this ritual was taking place at around 5 am, then you begin to understand why the container was more than a steel cage.

To make it on time, the principal had to set the alarm clock way before 5 am. Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i or any of his senior management team had a way of arriving unannounced at a container before five and woe betide you if that was the day your alarm clock decided to play tricks on you!

It is also understandable why some principals had to temporarily vacate their homes and rent houses closer to the container.

A colleague narrated an anecdote in which a certain principal woke up in the middle of the night to check his alarm clock.

It read 12.15 am. His mind must have registered the time in mother tongue whose equivalent in Kiswahili is saa kumi na mbili na robo —15 minutes after the container was supposed to have been opened! In panic, this principal jumped out of bed, called the Sub-County Director of Education to alert him that he would be slightly late.

HUGE EFFECT

Being the custodian of one of the keys to the container and still in bed, this education official also panicked.

He also shot out of bed and took three minutes to take care of essential hygiene necessities and called his driver to report at once! 

It was only after hassling the watchman to open the gate for him and the watchman loudly wondering why he was reporting to work shortly after midnight that the drama ended.

You can imagine the ripple of relief experienced down the line.

Interestingly, when the sub-county director arrived at the container at 5.30 am, our good principal was there waiting.

The introduction of the container placed the responsibility of securing the examination in the hands of education officials and head teachers.

This is a radical departure from the past when this was the responsibility of police officers and examination supervisors.

The supervisor would collect the papers from the police station and deliver them to schools.

The head teacher’s role was reduced to witnessing the opening of the bags containing the exam papers and the sealing of the packets containing the answer sheets.

The head teacher would then hand over the packets back to the supervisor who would ensure safe delivery to the county education office.

Needless to say that with the rest of the school still in session, the head teacher would have many other duties in the school to take care of.

For many head teachers, the national examination was a secondary responsibility.

Making KCSE the head teacher’s primary responsibility as the examination centre manager this year had a profound effect.

It meant that the head teacher had to ensure that the conditions necessary for conducting a successful examination were met, including restricted entry into schools by strangers, ensuring the prescribed spacing of desks was adhered to, ensuring that there was zero contact between candidates and teachers during the examination period; ensuring that there was sufficient personnel —  invigilators, supervisors and security personnel.

THE OUTCOME
Some principals went to great lengths to ensure that their candidates did not have access to mobile phones.

Indeed, the principal’s personal mobile phone put him or her in a bit of a tricky situation.

No-one was allowed to carry a mobile phone into the examination room but for the principal, the phone is an essential tool in running the school and hence a constant companion!

Head teachers had a hard time getting used to locking these gadgets in their drawers when going to witness the opening and sealing of examination papers.

But there is another container that has been very little spoken of: the packet containing the papers.

In the past, the Kenya National Examinations Council would pack up to five extra question papers.

This year there was only one extra question paper available.

After distributing the question papers to the candidates, this extra question paper would be put back into the packet.

The packet would be stapled and left on the table in the examination room and returned to the container with the answer sheets.

As a teacher of English, I have no idea what was tested in this year’s KCSE in my subject despite being the one witnessing the opening and sealing of the papers.

This limited access to question papers during and after the examination is an ingenious way of curbing leakage, especially in situations when sessions begin later than expected in some areas for various reasons.

Away from the steel and plastic containers, there was the gigantic Dr Matiang’i’s symbolic “excitement container”: the manner in which the release of KCPE results was conducted.

Over the years, this has only been rivalled by the release of the General Election results.

The media would hype the event through live commentaries ahead of the event.

BACK TO NORMAL

Schools, some of which somehow seemed to have advance information that their candidates would be on the honours roll, would be on standby with well-rehearsed dance moves, choreographed celebratory demonstrations through shopping centres and towns and memorised captions by top performers.

This year, nearly everyone was caught flat footed.

The results were announced much the same way the end of term results would be announced in any ordinary school: without drama. How refreshing!   

After 18 days of engagement with the container, principals of secondary schools were looking forward to a well-deserved restful break before embarking on Form 1 selection.

This was not to be as the first day of their holiday turned out to be the very day that KCPE results were announced. Many schools that had set their Form One reporting dates based on the old order have been forced to make adjustments.

In the past, only a few private schools have been able to admit Form One students before February.

With this new arrangement, the gap between private and public schools has been bridged.

We can only hope that After Form One selection is over, principals will take a restful Christmas break. The way things are going anything could happen …

But one thing is for sure, the tension and anxiety that candidates and their parents have been going through in the past during the Christmas festivities as they await the release of the results is now gone.

Indeed Christmas has come early for many families!

The author is the principal of Strathmore School.