Magoha confident ahead of KCPE exams
Bernard Gitau @benagitau
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha yesterday exuded confidence that Class Eight candidates will perform better in next month’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).
Despite the mass failure recorded in the first assessment test administered by Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC).
Speaking at Mukuru Kwa Njenga Primary School in Embakasi South Constituency, Nairobi yesterday, although Magoha termed the results as ‘regrettable’, the CS said interventions put in place by teachers will go along way in assisting learners in both Grade Four and Class Eight improve on their grades.
“Considering that Standard Eight and Grade Four learners have been in school for more than 14 weeks since that time, I am confident that the learning interventions by teachers have helped to recover the loss detected through the assessments.
I am confident the results of the KCPE will reflect much improved performance of the learners,” he said.
In his address, Magoha defended the tests by KNEC, saying they were only administered to establish the learning loss occasioned by the long schools’ closure due to Coronavirus pandemic.
According to him, the role of KNEC was to only provide the assessment items and process the national report.
Excellent kids
“Why then contextualise this to say that this test was done yesterday and these excellent kids are going to fail the exams? They are not going to fail as widely circulated in the media, ” said Magoha.
Magoha urged the media and public to give support and positive vibes to candidates as they face the national examinations.
On Monday, the statistics released by KNEC on Class Eight and Grade Four assessment test registered mass failures in virtually all the subjects showing most candidates failed to attain the minimum benchmark of 50 per cent in most of the subjects assessed.
Results come weeks to the KCPE examinations. The 1.1 million Standard Eight pupils are expected to sit KCPE examination between March 22-24.
“One of the major findings of the study is that majority of KCPE candidates are still performing below average.
Poor performance is a clear indication the virtual learning conducted during the time learners were out of schools did not yield positive results. Learners also showed low proficiency in reading for meaning.
