As top-scoring learners, their families and teachers celebrate the results of the 2021 KCSE examination, official data shows almost half the candidates failed, and were thus condemned to a future of low-paying labour.
Sounds like a harsh judgement, but anyone without a tertiary education in today's world is not likely to get a well-paying job. High school leavers whose performance in KCSE is below the minimum required to join tertiary training institutions are likely to end up either in small-scale trade or as manual labourers.
Data from the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) shows 379,331 candidates got Grade D and below. This represents 46 per cent of the total number of candidates whose results were published.
The minimum entry qualification for universities is Grade C+, while most technical courses offered in vocational training institutions require Grade D+ or above. There are very few training courses available for learners who got grades below D+.
The vast majority of KCSE candidates who failed the examination are from subcounty high schools. While national, extra-county schools and county high schools admit students from far and wide, subcounty high schools draw their student population from the immediate locality. Most subcounty schools are day, some are mixed day and boarding, while a few are full boarding schools. Subcounty schools can be said to be the “grassroots” of high school education.
DISMAL GRADES
Knec data shows subcounty schools had 55 per cent of KCSE candidates in the most recent examination, which ended in March this year. That category of schools constituted 65 per cent of examination centres across the country. It is, therefore, worrying that most of the 454,602 students who sat the exam in subcounty high schools failed to meet expectations.
Only four candidates from subcounty schools scored Grade A in all of Kenya. 124 scored A-minus, while 940 scored B+. In total, less than 45 per cent of candidates from subcounty schools scored Grade D+ and above.
In some of the schools, the leading candidates got Grade D. Several sub-county schools had almost half the candidates scoring Grade E! Such low grades imply that the candidates got very little learning in four years of high school. It is not entirely the fault of the candidates.
It all begins with how learners from primary school are selected to join high school. The best performers in the KCPE examination are placed in national schools. The next best lot are sent to extra-county schools, followed by county schools for the average performers. Learners who score low grades in KCPE are sent to the subcounty schools.
I teach in a subcounty school and my first assignment is to restore the lost self-esteem of learners so that they believe that one can fail in KCPE but succeed [in high school] through dedication and sheer hard work
LOST SELF-ESTEEM
“Seventy per cent of learners from primary schools land in subcounty schools,” says Jones Mwang’ombe, a high school teacher at the Coast. “I teach in a subcounty school and my first assignment is to restore the lost self-esteem of learners so that they believe that one can fail in KCPE but succeed [in high school] through dedication and sheer hard work,” he says.
Mwang’ombe says lack of laboratories and libraries, perennial teacher shortages and low entry marks make it difficult for subcounty schools to excel. “If these challenges are not addressed, the story will always repeat itself,” he concludes.
Simon*, a high school teacher in Nairobi, recalls a unique experience while invigilating chemistry practicals at a school in a low-income neighbourhood. “The apparatus for the practical exam had been set up in the laboratory. The candidates were called into the laboratory to begin the examination. After a while, my fellow invigilator and I noticed the candidates were idling,” Simon says.
“On inquiring from the students why they were not doing the practicals, one of them told me, ‘Mwalimu, we were not taught how to use laboratory equipment. We don’t know what to do.’ Those candidates were in the middle of probably the most important examination in their lives but they were not prepared for it,” he says.
Needless to say, that particular school did not perform very well in that year’s KCSE examination. Learners who had no clue what to do in a laboratory were competing with learners in better-equipped schools, which have at least one laboratory session per week.
Most learners in subcounty schools happen to be from low-income households. A 2021 report authored by Pitus Otiso and Dr Christopher Ayienda of Mt Kenya University demonstrates the link between family circumstances and low performance among students in public secondary schools.
Low income prevents the families from paying school fees on time. Low education among parents and involvement of the child in household duties leads to poor performance among the students. Involvement in household work decreases learners’ study time, often contributing to a decline in academic performance. Cultural factors, such as circumcision, teenage pregnancy and preference for educating some children over others, are also to blame.
GOVERNMENT'S VIEW
On its part, the government believes that the academic performance of subcounty schools is improving. While receiving the latest KCSE results on April 23, President Uhuru Kenyatta noted the progress made by day and subcounty schools. "More resources should be channelled to these schools. The day schools are lesser of a burden to the parents and they are performing," President Kenyatta said.
Education CS George Magoha acknowledged the importance of subcounty schools, saying they are the future of the country. “The government has deliberately invested in these day schools, which registered excellent performance,” he said, while detailing the government’s spending on the Free Day Secondary Education programme. Over several years, capitation per student has risen from Sh12,870 to the current Sh22,244.
Despite the government’s hefty financial investment in subcounty high schools, the excessive failure rate among learners remains a matter of concern. Each year, more learners get into these schools with no guarantee of getting a quality education.
Some 726,311 learners out of the 1.2 million who did the final primary school examinations in March 2022 have been placed in subcounty high schools. This represents a massive 60 per cent of all high school admissions for that cohort. Such a large portion of learners going to subcounty schools calls for urgent interventions to improve learning outcomes.
Parents and guardians also have a role to play. It is their responsibility to create a conducive environment at home for learners to focus on their studies.
Learners joining subcounty schools should not feel discouraged either. Ultimately, good performance in KCSE is all down to individual effort. “Through hard work, perseverance and faith in God, you can live your dreams,” said renowned neurosurgeon and motivational speaker Dr Ben Carson.
