40,000 teachers to go for briefing ahead of national exams

The Education ministry has ordered all the 40,000-plus primary and secondary school headteachers and supervisors to attend briefing sessions on the 2018 national examinations. The briefing is part of a wider government campaign to seal all loopholes for cheating, which led to cancellation of results for 1,200 candidates last year.

The briefing sessions begin next week and mark a series of activities lined up to pre-empt cheating in exams. National examinations for Standard Eight and Form Four will be conducted in October and November.

EXAM CENTRES

In a circular sent to all regional coordinators of education on Friday, Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said the briefing sessions will take place in all sub-counties between September 3 and September 7. They will be organised by the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) and will target exam centre managers and supervisors.

“The meetings will be chaired by the County Commissioners at the county level and Deputy County Commissioners at the sub-county level,” Dr Kipsang said in the letter dated August 24 and which was copied to Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed.

TIGHTEN RULES

Ms Mohamed has vowed to tighten examination rules. Last term, she launched a pre-examination monitoring campaign to determine the preparedness of schools for the national exams. The CS is scheduled to launch the next round of briefings in Samburu North on September 3, after which she will visit various schools across the country to monitor how prepared they are being for the exams.

All school activities involving parents and other outsiders have been banned ahead of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams, which start on October 30. The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) will start on November 5.

STRIKE THREAT

According Knec, preparations for national exams are to be completed by September 20.

Schools re-open for the third term today against a background of discontent among teachers over transfers, delayed promotions, forced performance appraisals and a new policy on training. At one point, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) had threatened to call its members to a strike to protest the new transfer and training policies.

Last week, TSC had held talks with the union and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Teachers (Kuppet) as well as the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) and the Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association (Kepsha) officials. The talks were part of an effort to avert the strike threat.

WELFARE

“Knut would like to categorically state that the union has not vacated its position on the proposed strike as the power of calling off strike rests with the National Executive Council (NEC),” Mr Wilson Sossion, Knut secretary general said of the strike plan after the talks on Thursday.

However, Kuppet Secretary-General Okelo Misori differed with Mr Sossion, saying the union will not support a strike.

Yesterday, Kepsha chairman Shem Ndolo said the teachers presented their proposals to the TSC and agreed to have another meeting in week’s time to resolve the contentious issues.

APPRAISALS

“On the strike, we are not party to it. All that we want is a good welfare of teachers,” Mr Ndolo told the Sunday Nation.

TSC CEO Nancy Macharia has asked teachers to continue engaging in talks over the contentious issues until they are fully resolved.

“In the meantime, all teachers’ programmes including the teachers’ appraisals system will continue,” she said.

CHAOTIC TERM

Schools are re-opening after a chaotic second term in which 107 institutions closed due to unrest that led to the burning of dormitories in 63 schools. Another 23 schools were closed after students decided to walk out.

As the schools open tomorrow, parents in the affected institutions may have to pay for the damage caused by their children.

Ms Mohammed has maintained that the government will not pay for the losses, leaving the parents with no other option than to bear the burden of repairing the dormitories, laboratories and classes.