NGO Questions exam preparedness as schools close early
Usawa Agenda Executive Director, Dr. Emanuel Manyasa, has raised concerns over exam preparedness among KCPE and KCSE candidates, arguing that schools have opted to close earlier yet there was a midterm break that was not factored in the calendar.
Manyasa questioned whether learners completed the second term syllabus after high school principals opted to send children back home a week to the official closing date.
According to the revised education calendar, second term started on October 11 and was expected to end on December 23, implying that schools are expected to close next week Thursday after some 11 weeks of learning. This was, however, without mid-term break that was slotted as an after-thought as learners’ indiscipline went up, eating into almost a week of learning.
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Usawa maintains that with early closures, some schools have lost up to two weeks of learning time, meaning that students may have actively spent only nine weeks in class.
Manyasa now wants Education officials to craft a roadmap to help learners recover lost time. “A few questions require forward thinking to avert a catastrophe next term: Have schools covered what they were supposed to cover in second term? If not, how will this affect the candidates’ exams readiness come next term?” said Manyasa.
“What is the feasible plan to ensure the term runs smoothly and successfully for the benefit of all the school communities–learners, teachers and parents?” added Manyasa.
Schools started closing as early as December 14 as students’ unruliness continued to rock second term. A number of schools closed Friday with many more expected to send children home on Monday next week ahead of Christmas festivities. Third term under the revised school calendar will start January 3, 2022 and end March 4 – after nine weeks.
Kenya National Examination Council Chief Executive David Njengere had earlier said that there should be no cause for alarm over the upcoming tests.
“We do not envisage any problems in next years’ examinations because we have done this before and there were no major issues,” said Njengere.
