With growing calls to have KCPE and KCSE candidates resume school to sit their final exams, Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha on Monday, August 31, explained why the Ministry is against the move.
A number of stakeholders have urged the Ministry to allow Class Eight and Form Four candidates to sit for their end-of-year exams in order to allow a smooth transition, instead of having them repeat classes.
Speaking during the Covid-19 Virtual Conference which was also attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Council of Governors (CoG) chairman Wycliffe Oparanya, Magoha explained why the government is against the decision.
"In standard 8 we have 1.2 million children waiting to take exams while in Form 4 we have 750,000, assuming that we were able to get them to do exams, what then happens to standard 8 because we do not have the capacity for them to go to the next class. Even if we were to use the capacity in form 4, it will be almost 500,000 children less. These are things that must be understood," noted Magoha.
A number of stakeholders including Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu, who sits in the Vice Chairman of the Education and Research Committee, have been pushing for the decision by arguing that failure to conduct exams will clog up the education system.
Wambugu proposed that the KCPE and KCSE candidates should sit their exams in 2020, with the rest of the students transitioned to the next class.
In his statement, Magoha detailed the reason why the Ministry keeps on issuing conflicting information on schools reopening after recently asking parents and students to prepare for school resumption soon.
"I have been observing very carefully we are just about to reach 5%, it may look like we are flip-flopping, it is the virus that is flip-flopping.
"It is not possible for someone to stand and say that we shall open tomorrow because those who have tried have rolled backwards," he insisted.
Magoha added that the Ministry would require Ksh1 billion to supply free washable face masks to schools nationwide if they were to reopen under current conditions.
