I would like to congratulate all the 522,870
students who sat KCSE in 2015. I am also mindful that there are 5,101 students
whose results were cancelled. Most of us cannot even begin to imagine how they
feel. The industrial scale cheating witnessed in last year’s national
examinations dented the credibility of Kenya’s education.
Our assessment system does not pass muster.
Personally, I am not satisfied that we have done enough to get to the bottom of
the crisis in our education system. Parents are not blameless here. We need drastic measures to redeem credibility
of our education.
But let us assume that cheating or other
forms of irregularities involving about one percent of the candidates does not
inflict grievous harm to the integrity of trustworthiness of KNEC or our
education system. About 21 percent of the KCPE class of 2011 scored a C plus
grade and above in KCSE and will, hopefully, proceed to university. Let me say
this in another way. Only 13 percent of the standard one class of 2004 qualifies
to go to join university. Bear in mind that the 522,870 who sate KCSE are only
42 percent of the of the 1,252,400 children who joined standard one
in 2004. As we celebrate the achievements of the KCPE class of 2014 does anyone
think about the 729,530 boys and girls who did not complete primary school or
transitioned to high school?
I will repeat this. Only 42 percent of the
standard one class of 2004 completed high school. The fate of 58 percent or
729,530 who have no high school education remains unknown. But they are about
19 years old this year. Only 13 percent of the 2004 class, which is the second
cohort of free primary education, will join university. Fellow Kenyans and
esteemed readers, I think this is a veritable human capital tragedy. This is a
disaster.
The transition rates in our education
system, 42 percent and 13 percent, are shameful. The transition rates are
deplorable and unconscionable in a knowledge-intensive economy. In fact many
now believe that we are on the cusp of a post-knowledge economy, which only
make matters worse for hundreds of thousands of Kenyan children, especially
because we are in live in a globalized world.
These terribly low transition rates from
primary school to secondary and from secondary to college are a powerful
indictment of our education system. Something needs to be fixed urgently. Let
me be a little dramatic here just to make a point. Imagine that our education
system was an airline company called Fly 844 and that our transition rates were
a flight safety record. We fly in two parts to our final destination. Our
safety record on the first leg is such that six out of 10 planes fall of the
sky. On the last leg only 13 percent of our flights land safely.
Obviously, an airline company with such an
atrocious safety record would be out of business in a couple of days. I should
have mentioned that even when our children complete university they struggle to
find work not just because jobs are hard to find but also because potential
employers say they are not up to up to snuff. Moreover, students who enter
university are often ill prepared for self-directed or independent learning.
The bad habits of rote learning acquired throughout primary and high school are
hard to shake off.
Perhaps you are wondering if things are really
that bad. I think we are in trouble. We are throwing away the future of this
country by failing to make effective investments in education. I have said
before that many credible studies have shown that the problem with our
education is not the syllabus or infrastructure or technology.
The problem is that 50-65 percent of teachers in both private and public
schools don’t have basic reading and math skills required to teach grade four
pupils. The problem of awful teachers is compounded by chronic absenteeism in
public schools. A service delivery indicator report released by the World Bank
shows that our teachers are absent half of the time they are required to teach.
The future of this country is in the tender
hands of our children. We must stop this reckless plunder of our future and
invest to improve transition rates in our education system. We owe our children
a better country.
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