Why 11,523 Candidates Failed To Take 2021 KCPE Exams.
According to an analysis of the recently released 2021 exams, 11,523 candidates failed to take the exams.
This is a decrease from the 12,424 who failed to take the tests in 2020, but the trend is concerning stakeholders.
Some have blamed it on candidate registration, which is normally done well in advance of the tests.
According to Akello Misori, secretary-general of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) registration of candidates should be done during the examination year, not a year before the tests are scheduled.
He noted that there is a possibility that some candidates will drop out of school due to pregnancies or previous marriages, among other factors, resulting in the rising statistics.
Collins Oyuu, a member of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), expressed similar sentiments, claiming that the long period between registration and examinations may be to blame for absentee candidates.
He cited child marriages, child labor, and teen pregnancies as some of the factors contributing to the rising number of absentee candidates.
The Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) registered students for KCPE exams while they were still in Standard Seven. The examinations body claims that registering candidates early allows it to plan ahead of time.
Emmanuel Manyasa, Country Manager of Uwezo Kenya, an organization involved in the push for increased access to education to improve literacy and numeracy levels, explained that “early registration of candidates is done to ensure there is enough time for planning purposes. This is because we have attached too much value to examinations.”
It has also been revealed that some of those who fail to do the exams are unable to be located.
According to Oyuu, the prolonged school closure caused by the Covid-19 outbreak impacted many school-aged children with s ome parents marrying off their children.
The Knut boss, some children are dropping out of school due to the hostile environment at home. There is also exam fever, which has contributed to a large number of candidates avoiding the tests, he claims.
“Some of the children face cruelty at home. Because of this, some disappear and others opt to live with relatives who may not be keen to take them back to school. We appeal to parents to take care of their children and prioritize their education,” said Oyuu.
Insecurity and drought that have ravaged various parts of the country in recent years have hampered test administration, causing many candidates to miss out.
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Mr Misori claimed that some schools register "ghost” candidates in order to comply with Knec’s rule that requires every examination center to have a minimum of 30 candidates, resulting in an increase in absentee candidates.
“We have also realised that there were many registered candidates who did not want to take up the exam. We had many cases of indiscipline, especially after prolonged school closures following the pandemic, and a lot of children lost interest in school,” said Misori.
Why 11,523 Candidates Failed To Take 2021 KCPE Exams
