Examinations To Be Set By Teachers Across All Levels Of Schools

[nancyshanice]

If you went through some selected national schools, then you agree with me that the questions on the examination papers during KCSE are no strangers. Their familiarity is as good as the revision questions done a few weeks before the national examinations.

This leaves us with only one deduction, these teachers are the ones that set the national examinations, and otherwise even if they were angels, how would they ‘time’ examinations with such accuracy of word to word in a sentence?

It would be right if such teachers who set examination come across all levels of schools in the republic. National schools have state of art facilities, they are given the best teachers as each teachers aims to teach in a national school, they set the examinations, they mark the examinations. But those in rural schools are the form four leavers who managed to score C+ and above who teach without training. And hence a question comes are we to blame students for failing or those who help them learn?

In those big schools students are taught computer studies, reference books are abundant, during admission a student is supposed to have a calculator, the libraries there are well equipped, there is electricity and the environment there is conducive for learning. So where does it leave the child in a rural school? Children who see a calculator only during the examination? a child whose only interaction with a test tube is when they visit a ‘neighboring school’ or during the national examination period, a laboratory is a vocabulary as to them. And many issues I think the government ought to do something.

What do you propose? Do you think there is equality in learning across the nation? What is it that you feel should be done?

[Joshua]

Why do you think majority of parents are taking their children to private schools if all schools are equal? Why not public schools? Teachers who are teaching in public primary schools are taking their children to private primary schools instead of admitting them in public schools where they're teaching. Has the government realized that it has failed and now wants to force parents to take their children to poor performing public schools?

I don't get it what the ministry of education has done (year 2011-2012). I thought the world is much fair if it depends on the effort one puts in achieving what he/she desires in life. Whether in public or private schools what I know is that students are working hard to achieve what they want (securing a place in national schools that are performing better and offering better environment plus facilities). Why then is the ministry of education being too unfair to students? The concern here is not private or public schools but "the future of students."

Has the ministry of education realized what it has done to students who scored good marks but were selected to join schools that are not performing well? If public primary schools have failed to offer what students want the ministry of the education should not shift its failures to students but do something about them without using unfair way.

This year's KCPE results have been surrounded by controversy… how comes a boy student was selected to join a school that admits only girls? What about the school whose performance was changed? What about the student who scored 432 out 500 marks missing to be selected in the first selection?

[iviivi]

It is not fair at all especially when we consider important factors such as resource allocation, personnel mobility and even harsh weather conditions for some regions in the country.
All this factors boil down to what the government is doing to ensure that schools that or on the harsh side of the equation, schools which the students only have half a day to study because as from noon the temperatures are too high for a student to concentrate in class, schools that don't have a formal library leave alone a formal classroom with a decent blackboard for the teacher to relay education, get adequate funding and resource allocation to match those of higher class in urban towns.
I believe the government should work to equalize the education sector, from there it can now start looking into cases of cheating by even considering the possibility of hiring external examiners, it has worked in many foreign countries, why not give it a try if our current system is utterly horrendous!

[205victor]

There is no equality in learning across the country following that not all pupils/students perform as expected in the national examinations. Most of the rural public schools are left behind in many matters pertaining to education. Unlike public schools in urban centres, rural schools lack learning materials such as textbooks, reference books, revision books, laboratory equipments live alone a laboratory. They also lack qualified teachers or those few who are their do not deliver their best following that the issue of lack motivation.

The government should see to it that all schools have enough classrooms and a conducive environment for pupils and students to learn. It should also look at the issue of teachers' pay/motivation. It should also ensure proper and equal allocation of learning resources to all public schools. Both parents and the government should join hands to solve the issue of insufficient qualified teachers. Students should also do their part and put more efforts in utilizing their teachers, time and other available resources so that they secure a place in this competitive world.

[lynkez]

The syllabus is all the same, the materials are the same but the lower level schools seem to believe that excelling is for the top schools, call them national or provincial ones. I am sure students try to go extra miles in seeking to know what other schools are doing by exchanging past revision papers so that they get familiarised to such.

Some teachers just set direct questions which do not challenge students such that when the national ones come, they are unable to comprehend a question. For those who are used to the critical questions, it becomes easy for them hence they answer appropriately and excel.