KNEC issues exam warning over strike

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By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Tuesday, September 18  2012 at  23:30

IN SUMMARY

• The administration of tests, marking and release of results is done under a strict timetable, which cannot be extended to next year, Knec chief executive Paul Wasanga said.
• Serious concern is also being raised about the preparation of candidates for exams.
• The ban on holiday tuition, which schools used to cover the syllabus and give candidates time to revise, has made the situation worse.
• Pushing back the exams to allow students to catch up with lost lessons would have “serious implications”, according to Mr Wasanga.

An examinations crisis is looming if the teachers’ strike continues for too long, the Kenya National Examinations Council has warned.

The administration of tests, marking and release of results is done under a strict timetable, which cannot be extended to next year, Knec chief executive Paul Wasanga said.

Serious concern is also being raised about the preparation of candidates for exams. (READ: Workers defy orders to end strike)

Traditionally, pupils are tested on the entire syllabus. With the strike on, it is looking unlikely that public schools will be able to teach the entire programme.

“The uncertainty around when learning will resume in the public schools may affect the preparation for the national exams for the candidates,” Mr Wasanga said.

The ban on holiday tuition, which schools used to cover the syllabus and give candidates time to revise, has made the situation worse. (READ: Stop tuition or face the sack, says Mutula)

Pushing back the exams to allow students to catch up with lost lessons would have “serious implications”, according to Mr Wasanga.

“This would affect marking and releasing of the results, which takes at least one month to complete,” Mr Wasanga said.

Postponing the exams, he added, would trigger an educational crisis by wreaking havoc on the school calendar next year.

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“Firstly, exam markers are teachers who use the December holidays for purposes of marking. It would otherwise not be possible to have them during the school term.”

Releasing the results late would affect selection of candidates to join Form One and affect university programmes by delaying admissions.

The exams are scheduled to start on October 4, with Home Science practical followed by other practical tests and optional papers, which run up to the end of the month. Theory papers start on November 5.

This year, 820,255 Standard Eight pupils will sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams in more than 23,000 schools countrywide.

Another 437,782 will sit the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education test in more than 7,000 schools.

Mr Wasanga asked the government and the teachers to end the strike immediately and avoid jeopardising the future of the candidates and the smooth running of the educational calendar.

He cited the example of the 1990s when students had to wait for more than two years to join university.

Giving exams to more than a million candidates in primary and secondary schools at the height of a teacher’s strike would be difficult, he said.