Parents in remote areas of the country have called upon the Ministry of Education and the government to consider candidates in rural areas.
This followed reports of candidates in the areas lacking the opportunity to uninterruptedly continue with learning at home owing to the disparity between urban and rural areas, and lack of access to facilities.
Caleb Kiprop a Class Eight pupil at Orsen Primary School in Baringo North, who lives with his grandmother, has taken up house chores and has little time to focus on education.
"If it was possible, our children from rural areas should sit for separate exams from those in urban areas. They have electricity, they have laptops and the internet. We don't have them," Kiprop's grandmother appealed.
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Kiprop revealed that his daily routine is marked by duties at their farm. He admitted that he rarely gets enough time to study, or sometimes a few minutes to read in the evening.
"This exam might be tough because we have not covered the school syllabus," Kiprop stated.
"In rural areas, we don't have gas cookers, we have to go for firewood, fetch water from rivers, and when you come back, you are tired and don't get enough time to study," Mercy Jepkorir, a Form Three student asserted.
"We need our teacher's help and we cannot get access to them," she added, further noting that she was unable to access any mode of virtual learning.
Following the directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to close schools on March 15, 2020, the disparity in learning between pupils and students in the country has become evident.
On March 27, 2020, the Ministry of Education kicked off virtual lessons via television and radio, however, some students in Kenya's marginalised regions are unable to access these.
"We appeal to the government that when the schools open, they start afresh to all schools in the country so that all children can be rated equally in the exams," a parent appealed.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke on Friday, April 24, 2020, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Chairperson Omboko Milemba ruled out e-learning as a platform for syllabus coverage, noting that students needed to resume school soon.
"We as the union had proposed that we postpone the exams. But postponing exams is not just excitement from the union, but it is one of the drastic measures that can be taken by the union. That is a very drastic measure but we may use it as our last wildcard," Milemba stated.
"The truth is that online learning guided by parents is neither here nor there. Rule out that. We cannot count that as curriculum completion and syllabus coverage, so all the students need to go back to school and finish the syllabus," he added.
On Tuesday, May 5, 2020, Education CS George Magoha in a report revealed that the ministry would cut back on holidays to allow for the completion of the syllabus by primary school pupils and high school students
