I SUPPORT A 100% THE GOVTS FORM 1 QUOTA SELECTION... Secondary education in Kenya’s top public schools has for slightly over a decade become a preserve of students from well-to-do families. Private schools have been taking the lion’s share of the top positions in the KCPE exams and dominate these slots at a ratio of 2:1 over public schools. The governments quota and affirmative action to provide a level playing field for Form One entrance ensures that top-performing candidates from private academies do not crowd out their counterparts from public schools and hog all the available places in prestigious national and top county schools. The selection of the students was based on merit, choice of the schools, quarter system, equity and affirmative action. The new system is aimed at achieving equity in school placement and also harmonise the selection process throughout the country at the national, county and district levels. It also favours bright pupils from arid and semi-arid areas over those from more affluent areas. It aims to end private schools dominance in the country. The ministrys criteria, which is based on candidates ratio from Public and Private schools, is meant to level the playing field for pupils in public and private schools. Given the challenges facing children in public schools and hardship areas, the cut off mark will be much lower in some areas. Most public schools learn under extremely difficult situations and could thus not be graded using the same system as learners taught under more friendly environments. Some children in these schools barely get a meal a day, leave alone basic needs. In short, some merely survive at Gods grace. The free primary schooling programme is another cause of the woes the public schools were facing. The programme has taken a toll on quality education in thes schools. Most public schools lack resources but the institutions are only the lifeline of poor families. The government pays only Sh1,020 per pupil in primary schools, hardly enough to purchase necessary reading and learning materials. Fees in private schools can go to as high as Sh100,000 per term, enabling them to provide all the necessary facilities to their pupils. Enrolment in public schools have more than doubled while their teacher numbers have been cut by half, consigning them to poor performance in KCPE examinations. Most private schools maintain small classes. Some private schools too have thrown public institutions off the national performance tables through unethical practices. Inspite of all these odds, these children from public schools get punished for being born in poor backgrounds. It is not fair to compare schools. Schools have varying resources, management etc. If we take a short preview of how the 2014 candidates performed, then ideally, a candidate must have more than 351 marks in order to join either a National School or an Extra County School. With 434,000 candidates joining sub county schools, a very small percentage of kids in public schools will be able to score good grades that can secure them a slot in the public university. This is where many will start to drift away from their childhood career dreams. Everyone should to give the disadvantaged child a chance.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 07:54:08 +0000
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