School heads want mass science failure in KCSE investigated

Head teachers want the examinations council to explain mass failure in science subjects in last year’s end of high school examinations.

The more than 8,000 heads of secondary schools meeting in a week-long conference in Mombasa said parents, teachers, students and other education stakeholders need answers.

“We want the government to explain why there was massive failure in Kenya Certification of Secondary Examination (KCSE) especially in Biology and Chemistry. This will enable us prepare this year’s candidates and, if we as teachers are responsible, we will pull up our socks,” said Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Indimuli Kahi.

The principals also want the Teachers Service Commission to employ more science and art & craft teachers citing shortage.

“Even in the recently concluded recruitment, we were not able to get teachers with subject combinations of physics/chemistry. It was either mathematics/physics or mathematics/chemistry,” Mr Kahi said.

Hundreds of thousands of last year’s Form Four leavers were locked out of universities and other tertiary institutions due to mass failures, especially in science subjects.