Thousands of prospective national examination candidates in Embu County have been undergoing private tuition facilitated by parents and guardians in various private institutions despite the exercise being declared illegal.
The paid tuition approved by various managements of school and parents-teachers’ organizations goes on in the evening and weekends with various teachers diligently taking students, especially candidates through various subjects.
Parents admitted to paying between Ksh500 to Ksh800 a month to facilitate the teachers’ extra involvement in taking their children through various revision papers all in a bid to register good grades in the national examinations.
A survey by Education Review revealed that the parents, guardians, teachers and pupils operated in confidential unity, all in a bid to improve learners’ knowledge and perform well in internal and external examinations.
Candidates, teachers and parents in other schools confessed that they were envious of various academies scattered across Manyatta constituency where intensive private teaching and tuition went on unabated.
Candidates appeared to be clearly pursuing better grades as compared to neighboring schools, a revelation that even if grading was not publicly done in the last national examinations, pupils and students were made aware of the their schools’ positions against competitors.
“We want to beat Iveche which has been causing us trouble for years,” said a candidate on condition of anonymity.
The parents of a child who has been attending the private tuition classes confessed that unlike in the past when some parents opposed private tuition and even made attempts to report the same to the authorities, most parents agreed that extra teaching was required.
“We know the extra teaching even at a cost is for the benefit of our children and anyway it distracts them from wasting time on the internet which consumes money through data bundle costs,” said a parent in Mbeere South.
Teacher unions representatives while noting that tuition was illegal, clarified that parents and school managements were allowed to devise their own ways of improving learning not merely for good grades but also to assist students to appreciate academic excellence.
Retired Gatondo Primary School head teacher Mr. Jadiel Njagi Elijah and now Kawa Academy head in Mbeti North said extra teaching in academies was meant to equip pupils to better themselves academically and not merely to record high results in national examinations.
By Robert Nyagah
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