Revise policy on KCPE exam

THURSDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2011 12:01 BY THE EDITOR

That 52 per cent of all 760,000 children who sat the KCPE examination were unable to meet the minimum threshold mark of 250 points should be a cause of concern. This means at least 380,000 children have nowhere else to turn, especially if the Education ministry implements its policy to stop children repeating and re-sitting the exam.

It is the height of infamy that children with an average age of 14 years are now expected to end their education and look to a bleak future as there are no post-primary schools to teach them skills which will at least, make them employable by the time they are in late teens and early 20s.

As it is, this human capital is wasted as the country grinds on inexorably to meet its destiny with the future envisoned in Vision 2030. Instead of bemoaning the so called 'poor performance' at primary school level, the government should take a hard and serious look at its policies and change them to ensure that all Kenyans get at least a minimum of a secondary school education.

To do this, resources should be invested in building more secondary schools, re-quipping the existing schools and establishing incentives that will see more gender parity in schools.

Quote of the day: “An individual should not have too much freedom. A nation should have absolute freedom,"  British Liberal statesman who in a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times (1868–1874, 1880–1885, February–July 1886 and 1892–1894), more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time. Gladstone, who also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times (1853–1855, 1859–1866, 1873–1874, and 1880–1882) was born on December 29,1809.