EDITORIAL: Early release of KCPE exam results laudable
Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i releases the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results at KICD, November 21, 2017. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG
Tuesday’s release of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination results, nearly a month earlier than usual, is a laudable move – not least how efficient government operations can be if well managed.
More importantly, early release of exam results affords the Ministry of Education an opportunity to fix the challenges that have for many years bedevilled admissions to secondary schools.
Transition to secondary school has been a pain for many pupils and their parents in recent years due to corruption and mix-ups in the selection process. Many pupils have been locked out of their dream schools despite sterling performance in the exams.
Others have had to deal with the frustrations of missing examination results. Kenyans can only hope such shenanigans won’t be there time round because the admission teams have ample time to prepare and ensure every case is handled on merit.
Messing up such an important exercise, as has happened in the past, has long-term effects on the children and the national economy.
It works to send a strong statement to the pupils that ours is a country where merit does not count – laying the foundation for corruption that is today one of Kenya’s biggest challenges.
Education secretary Fred Matiang’i has promised that the more than 9,000 candidates who scored 400 marks and above in this year’s exams would join national secondary schools whether they sat the tests in private or public schools.
We can only urge that such words be followed with action so that all deserving students are selected to institutions purely on merit.
The selection process must be transparent and the criteria made public for the sake of accountability to weed out cartels that have previously profiteered from it.
The expected commencement of free secondary school education in January next year is likely to pose a challenge to the admission teams because all candidates from this year’s KCPE examinations would be seeking places.
This demands that adequate preparations be made to cater for the expected surge in admissions so that learning programmes are not interrupted by delays in handling admission cases.
Management of the various schools should also take stock of the available staff and key facilities.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
