Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha on Wednesday, August 12 was advised by Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu on having KCPE and KCSE exams in 2020.
Wambugu who is the Vice Chairman of the Education and Research Committee also detailed reasons why the cancellation of national exams was a blunder.
The MP noted that class eight and form four candidates can be allowed to go back to school and do the exams across all classes in the school to promote social distancing.
"I want to urge CS Magoha and his Ministry to think very critically on the decisions they are making and the fact that they are impacting millions of children who are not able to speak for themselves.
"In December or October we can have exams, every school has multiple classes you can actually organise social distancing in the classes that exist for the examination candidates," he explained.
The MP added that the Ministry of Education should provide a safe environment for students and teachers to ensure exams are conducted without hitches after which candidates can be allowed to return home.
Wambugu reiterated his previous stand of having the candidates tested for whatever they had covered in the syllabus until schools were closed due to the pandemic.
He noted that this would enable students to transition to the next classes whenever schools resume with the syllabus adjusted to cover for the two terms missed.
With most sectors slowly returning to normal, Wambugu noted the education sector had been left behind adding that this would give learners the wrong impression that "education can take a back-seat in case of a crisis."
Wambugu also noted that the cancellation of the 2020 education calendar was proof of neglect in the sector as students had spent eight years or four years in primary or secondary school respectively only to be declared null and void over two terms.
"The nullification of the school calendar also tells young adults in college and university that we cannot trust them to follow safety protocols in school; but they can do so at home, in restaurants; in Matatus," the MP further stated.
The new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) system will also be stalled which was meant to prove that exams are not the end of the world.
