BY VICTOR OCHIENG’
After the expeditious release of 2020 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results, Kenya National Examination Council went ahead to unleash some fantastic facts and figures.
This was the KCPE examination candidature trends for the last five years (2015-2019). The essential statistics revealed that the graph has experienced an exponential increase from 927, 789, in 2015 to 1, 083, 456 in 2020.
Now, there is this song about 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school.
The Ministry of Education presides over a policy which posits that all pupils who sit for KCPE should find their way to high schools without demur.
This is good and gracious; for education is one of the basic rights for all children enshrined in the Supreme Law of the Land.
Though, methinks that the government should also be very keen and careful to address the problems that have plagued secondary schools due to high intake of Form Ones and Covid-19 related challenges.
Soon before next moon, when the marking process is complete, key educational stakeholders will sit to embark on matters Form One Selection and Placement. As they execute this noble mandate, they should also say this and that about the serious strain of resources that have placed public schools at precarious positions.
I have witnessed a lot of chilling challenges that public schools grapple with due to 100 per cent transition. The terrific increase in the admission has made students’ population in several schools to swell.
This is what has resulted to serious strain on the existing infrastructural facilities. The other challenge has been caused by the ripple effects of Covid-19 crisis.
There are schools in this country that have been hit hard due to congestion of learners in class rooms, dormitories and lavatories. In some learning institutions, there are no ample multi-purpose halls that can accommodate all students during common occasions like the Sunday services.
This makes them to converge under trees at the mercy of the vagaries of nature like the scorching sun and rain.
Yet, for learning to take place, the environment should be conducive.
There is also another challenge that has crippled schools and left them looking ashen and pale: the challenge of acute teacher-shortage.
This is what compels school heads to hire teachers on Board of Management terms.
Also the belated submission of tuition funds by the Ministry of Education is another problem.
When money is released in piecemeal and in meagre amounts, the school management irrespective of how astute they are; find it a bit difficult to allot it and initiate any sort of project.
In such instances, if the school management lacks discretion and decision-making skills, then the school will remain stunted like crops suffering from deficiency of useful nutrients.
We are also cognizant of the fact that the Teachers Service Commission has been on a mission to hire teachers on internship basis – a move they claim will curb the serious teacher-shortage that has hit schools hard like a thunderbolt. But this, believe you me, has been like a drop of water in a boundless sea.
Based on international standards, the teacher-student ration should be 1:45, but in most schools, this has stretched to 1:60, or even more.
This is one of the causes of poor performance in public schools.
The writer delivers pep talks in schools across the country. vochieng.90@gmail.com
