Quinter Chemutai (left), Doreen Chepng’etich (centre) and Kevin Kibet (right) from Queen of Angels Academy in Eldoret are carried shoulder high during celebrations following their exemplary performance in KCPE on November 21, 2017. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NMG
Ministry of Education’s decision to speedily mark and release the 2017 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results is without doubt laudable.
It is even more reassuring that there was almost no case of cheating in the exams -- no pupil or school had their results nullified.
This turn of events is important for two main reasons. First, it shows what good leadership can do in an organisation, including a government agency.
Second, it shows that with proper commitment and right expertise, even government departments can execute projects in an efficient and timely manner.
The Kenyan public, who are the consumers of public services, should therefore not settle for the incompetence, wastage of public resources and theft that has become synonymous with government departments.
They must set the bar higher and demand that expectations be met. Whether in the running of hospitals, fixing roads, issuance of important public documents such as IDs and passports, it is possible to rid these processes of corruption and deliver with speed.
It is our hope that the next phase of the national examination cycle – the selection of students for secondary schools will get similar treatment.
Competition for entry into the prestigious national schools has been fraught with massive corruption to the detriment of young minds, who rightly think ours is a merit based system where excelling in exams entitles one to a place in a prestigious high school.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
