Students to sit two exams in high school

Learners will sit two national examinations in secondary school under the new curriculum but a decision has not been made about pupils in primary.

Sharp differences have emerged between the CS and education technocrats  on whether or not learners in primary schools should sit exams.

Magoha said pupils will be tested at the end of the junior secondary in Grade 9 and will also sit another exam at the end of the senior secondary in Grade 12.

It will be a shift from the 8-4-4 system where learners are only required to sit the Kenya Certificate Secondary Education examination.

“There are certain ambiguities I want to correct with a finality. As government, we have decided that there will be an examination after Grade 9 and after Grade 12,” Magoha said.

Despite the formation of a task force that will give direction on the way forward on how learners will transit to secondary, Magoha and technocrats appear to give conflicting positions.

Magoha wants examinations similar to the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education that ranks learners.

But technocrats are uneasy with the decision as examinations in primary schools would bring back stiff competition. The new curriculum seeks to eliminate this.  Magoha questioned how learners will transit to secondary school. 

"There must be an exam. On whether it will account for 100 per cent of the results or 50 per cent, is up to the examination council to decide," Magoha said.

On Wednesday, the CS stamped his foot with the idea that learners will need to sit an examination for a rational transition to secondary school.

However, the Kenya National Examination Council chief executive officer Mercy Karogo has suggested a hybrid system that could involve both examination and classroom assessment.

She said learners will be provided with a status report that will be produced in secondary schools they join to guide the teacher on their strength.

Nominated Senator Agnes Zani, who is a member of the Education committee, suggested a review of the assessment that would allow flexible testing.

She proposed the assessment be divided and testing conducted in quarters that will capture the holistic ideology behind the competency-based curriculum  that will involve a variety of testing skills.

"If we don’t do that, we are going to have a conflict more so if we are going to have a knowledge-based mentality of addressing a specific people,” Zani said.

KICD director yesterday suggested testing of learners be done through assessments that will be administered and monitored by normal classroom teachers.

This is something the CS sharply disagrees with.

“No, we cannot just have assessment because there is corruption in Kenya…. Otherwise the whole system will collapse because teachers will assess a kid according to how much they are paying," Magoha said.

(Edited by P.Wanambisi)