Public schools are capable of posting excellent national examination results if they reorganise themselves, according to Lugari subcounty director of education, Magdalene Igwatai.
She argues that public schools have highly qualified teachers and adequate textbooks which puts them in a better position to prepare their learners for high exam scores.
The education boss was speaking on Saturday during the release of subcounty evaluation test results for Class 7 and 8 in more than 75 public and private primary schools at Kingdomsons Academy.
She challenged public school teachers not to dwell on lame excuses for dismal exam results.
Private schools grabbed the first 16 positions in the released Class 8 results, which according to the director, was not fair to public school candidates.
St Mary's Primary School from Lugari North Zone was the first public school in the Class 8 results but came a distant 17th with a mean score of 260. Kings Academy was the first school with a mean of 331.17.
Igwatai asked the headteachers who represented their schools to organise the available resources their disposal and help candidates before they write the write the national examination.
She also encouraged public and private schools who have posted promising results to keep the upward trend through continuous improvement.
“We have noticed some schools posting high scores during continuous assessment tests but the same results are not reflected in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education results,” Igwatai said.
She advised teachers to award candidates marks that can encourage gradual improvement, but not high scores that ‘blind them’ hoping they will maintain the same scores at national exams.
“Last year we had high results scores during continuous tests in several schools but missed out on KCPE exam results which implies that something must be done to keep the learners working hard,” she added.
Deborah Ongidi, the subcounty director representing Teachers Service Commission reiterated the role of headteachers' patronage towards achieving stellar results at the national level.
Ongidi however said guidance, counselling and imparting life skills at primary level should be taken seriously by the headteachers because they prepare learners adequately towards the next level in life.
She further cautioned teachers to ignore some social media messages on the Competence-Based Curriculum, and said such messages are misleading. She said teachers should follow official directions from the official TSC and the Ministry of Education websites concerning CBC.
Tobias Omusale, the subcounty Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association chair encouraged teachers to work tirelessly towards their target KCPE mean score of 270 this year.
Omusale expressed confidence that the 227 mean score posted at the release of the first evaluation test results was a good start towards attaining the target mean.
The chair revealed that the county exam council decided to include Class 7 in the examinations because they are also doing their KCPE next year. He said there was a need to prepare them thoroughly.
The function was also attended by the subcounty quality assurance officer Nancy Cheluget and Boaz Bulimo who presented trophies to best performing public and private schools on behalf of area MP Ayub Savula.
