Ministry Goes After Schools Registering Grade 7 Learners For KCPE
The Ministry of Education in Kenya has reported that there has been a surge of malpractices in primary schools in which teachers illegally promote Grade Seven pupils to Class Eight and register them as candidates.
By doing so, these students skip the Competency-based Curriculum (CBC) and take the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination.
Education Permanent Secretary Belio Kipsang spoke on the matter and emphasized that the teachers in some primary schools were coordinating with parents in these unlawful acts.
The Permanent Secretary elaborated on the six ways parents and teachers circumvented the Ministry’s guidelines. Firstly, they falsified school records to indicate that students were candidates.
Secondly, they tampered with birth records and biodata of Grade Seven learners. Thirdly, they tried to change or obtain new birth certificates to alter the legitimate information to fit their children in the 2023 Class Eight.
Fourthly, some schools generated new Unique Personal Identification (UPI) for continuing learners. In the fifth case, some schools presented Grade Seven learners as Class Eight candidates, enabling them to skip Grade Seven.
Lastly, parents and teachers facilitated transfers of Grade Seven learners into other schools and presented them as Class Eight transfers.
The Education Cabinet Secretary (CS), Ezekiel Machogu cautioned parents and teachers against registering grade seven learners to sit for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
During a virtual meeting with Regional Coordinators of Education, County Directors of Education, and Subcounty Directors of Education on February 13, the CS warned that the Ministry of Education would not allow learners to sit for exams that follow a curriculum different from the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).
“It will be unfair to the learners,” he noted.
Machogu urged officials to file reports on the progress of grade seven learner enrolment and to provide any challenges against enrolment for the government to address.
He also called for cooperation with officials from the Ministry of Interior to ensure that no child remains at home for whatever reason.
The government has warned that action will be taken against any school found engaging in such illegal practices, and field officers are required to validate all registration data for KCPE and report any abnormal increase in KCPE candidature against the 2022 enrollment.
The Garissa Township Deputy County Commissioner Solomon Chesut has also raised the same issue, stating that “there is no way you can register a student from Grade Six to Class Eight.” Chesut warned teachers that they risked losing their jobs or facing jail terms for violating education rights.
Ministry Goes After Schools Registering Grade 7 Learners For KCPE
