Prof Kaimenyi and radical decision on KCPE ranking

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Education1893 General Conference Bulletin,General Conference Bulletin, 1897.

[RV Pundit]

Life is hard, brutal and competitive. it is especially harder if you're in poor third world country. That is the reality that need to be inculcated to kids from day one. This attempt to babysit kids by avoiding the reality will only kill one aspect of kenya that was actually working.

Kenya education system is known for it's quality. In a country that ranks anything btw 120-150 in nearly every indicator, when it comes to QUALITY of education, we rank top 40. We rank amongst developed countries. The Chinese, the South Asians, the Indians and name them are doing twice what our kids are doing..reading and studying till some of them literally drop.And that investment in education is paying big big time.

Right now in this era of KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY...you want to engage full gears in a BRUTAL EDUCATION SYSTEM...ultimately our kids will compete against the chinese and indians kids who are reading 15hrs every day..studying hard subjects like maths and sciences with zeal and ferocity...and now dominating all IVY leagues.

As for nonsense of rote learning and cramming..change the exams..to ensure it's more rigorous in testing the real intelligence..something like SAT or GRES.

Bottomline. Life is BRUTAL and COMPETITIVE. You cannot protect kids from reality. You have to prepare them to face the real world.

Ranking should be returned pronto..right from baby class to campus..kids should be competitively rank..in academic and non-academic work.  Instead of dropping academic ranking..just introduce non-academic rank...examine the non-examinable like sports.

I wish life was easy..unfortunately it isn't.

[vooke]

I second Pundito,
I have watched a cousin waste away because the mother rejected my advice that he rewinds class 8. The boy was sickly in his final year and he was headed for National school. He is awaiting his KCSE results and I don't expect nothing above a C+. This means private university or colleges and no bursary or scholarship. Given the harsh reality of our education system,another attempt at KCPE was the best option.

Whether you rank them or not, they will be absorbed into high school on merit first and universities thereafter on the same basis.

PS:Malcolm Gladwel in his Outliers suggests that the rice growing culture in Asia and India may have instilled diligence in classroom and may explain why the kids score better in maths and science. A kid putting in ten hours a day in  classroom is no biggie there.He regrets that while the education standards are dropping in the West, they are rising in the east

[RV Pundit]

There is no magic to success in life except painful hardwork; We marvel at chinese infra but you just need to observe them keenly to notice they do not do anything really different except they put in more work hrs; they wake up 6 and work till 7; they work on weekends; Now poor african country like kenya has lazy work enviroment with 2 days off; 8-5 or 3pm and you wonder why our productivity is very low; we should ensure we are working twice as hard  or smart as chinese,sotuh asians and indians if we are to make for huge lag in our development.

Instead of reducing work load in schools..i say double it. Prepare these kids for brutal life ahead. Prepare these kids for brutal competition of the few  quality jobs. Prepare these kids for brutal business enviroment in Juakali.

Some of the luxuries that developed countries afford..we cannot.

I second Pundito,
I have watched a cousin waste away because the mother rejected my advice that he rewinds class 8. The boy was sickly in his final year and he was headed for National school. He is awaiting his KCSE results and I don't expect nothing above a C+. This means private university or colleges and no bursary or scholarship. Given the harsh reality of our education system,another attempt at KCPE was the best option.

Whether you rank them or not, they will be absorbed into high school on merit first and universities thereafter on the same basis.

PS:Malcolm Gladwel in his Outliers suggests that the rice growing culture in Asia and India may have instilled diligence in classroom and may explain why the kids score better in maths and science. A kid putting in ten hours a day in  classroom is no biggie there.He regrets that while the education standards are dropping in the West, they are rising in the east

[Logan]

You have to be very careful before you endorse haphazard changes effected in kenya... look:

Every time abrupt laws are passed in that rotten country, there is an ulterior motive to benefit a few just for the spur of the moment..before they are reverted to the old formula...by then, irreparable damage will have been done changing others' lives forever.... 

this has created an opportunity for some officials to deny deserving students Form One places so as to allocate the slots to their friends through the back door.

Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000146377&story_title=form-one-intake-puzzle-after-end-of-ranking-order

I agree with this assessment. When you take a look at the reasons given by the MoE, you'll find that they're totally bogus.  I'd like any nipatean to give me any reason (besides those that I've called out as baseless.)

http://nipate.com/no-rankings-as-kaimenyi-releases-kcpe-results-t51208.html

[bryan275]

I agree with Pundito on this one.  Life is one massive competition to survive.  This non ranking kills every need to win in all concerned.  The best example of that kind of legacy is the England football team.  A typical sports day at my son's school comprises of kids playing in house teams made up of all years.  From the wobbling barely out of nappies Reception kids (3/4 years old) to the pre teen year 6s, playing non descript games like hoola hoops, jumping over ropes and around cones through tunnels etc.  At the end of the day, there are team results, it's hard to tell who won and who lost.

The same applies in their classrooms.  They are sat on tables of 5, and if you are not a pushy parent checking where your child is and pushing them to move up tables, utajipata kamekwama with the idiots on one table receiving "an education that is within their abilities".

 

By the time you realise that your kid is a thick one, it's too late they have flanked their GCSEs maisha kwisha...
 
Ow, also their work is not marked using red pens, as "they are too aggressive" and certainly to "Xs" to denote wrong answers.

Obviously there's no ranking so that the idiots are not humiliated (into working harder I suppose???)

[Omollo]

I have a lot to say about this. I will return. Suffice is to say, I support Kaimenyi to a large extent. There are some things he needs to do in addition to dropping ranking in order to get equity in education. Without these additional measures, his action becomes impulsive and ultimately wasteful.

That said, anybody can do the ranking. The results are publicly available and can be analysed and presented. Michelin sold tyres but are now more known for ranking hotels. Any public or private University can start ranking schools. Even a newspaper, Pub or NGO.

[mya88]

Consequently, stakeholders are worried that this has created an opportunity for some officials to deny deserving students Form One places so as to allocate the slots to their friends through the back door.

[Omollo]

The bottomline is that all schools should be brought to a level where they offer the same quality of education. How? By ensuring that they have the same basic facilities to undertake all the learning required under the syllabus. I know of schools where students see a test tube for the first time during exams.

How do we achieve that? By first assessing all schools and pumping cash in to those below par and henceforth equitably distributing funds to all of them. Kaimenyi can follow through by ending discrimination against students attending private and community schools. The subsidies paid per student should have no caveats barring non-government schools. Money should follow the student to any school he/ she chooses to attend.

In return, non government schools running a for profit basis should agree to a fee limit which should not exceed a percentage of the subsidy - the same way that government schools do.

[RV Pundit]

Is there any link btw facilities and equipment with school performance. I think  a lot goes into producing good schools; facilities is one small part of it otherwise schools in turkana or west pokot would not be leading like they've done previously. For me it really down to teachers doing their part. A good teacher can produce great candidates sitting under the tree. There is no schools that can practically demonstrate everything including nuclear tech...so this test tube idea doesn't work.

We need ranking linked to teacher promotion and salary...any school producing poor grades should be somehow punished.

The bottomline is that all schools should be brought to a level where they offer the same quality of education. How? By ensuring that they have the same basic facilities to undertake all the learning required under the syllabus. I know of schools where students see a test tube for the first time during exams.

How do we achieve that? By first assessing all schools and pumping cash in to those below par and henceforth equitably distributing funds to all of them. Kaimenyi can follow through by ending discrimination against students attending private and community schools. The subsidies paid per student should have no caveats barring non-government schools. Money should follow the student to any school he/ she chooses to attend.

In return, non government schools running a for profit basis should agree to a fee limit which should not exceed a percentage of the subsidy - the same way that government schools do.

[Omollo]

Actually yes.

The reason teachers fight for government schools in Nairobi and Machakos is simple: A huge colonial bungalow at the rent price of mandazi. There you are housing and a good life.

Those schools in Kenya with high quality staff amenities have a long "waiting" list of potential teachers. They are spoilt for choice when it comes to getting new teachers.

Now those same teachers would not go to a school where the teaching facilities cause them headaches. They need to meet clean spacious classrooms which can allow learning top go on regardless of the weather. A decent library and easy access to every textbook and reference material they may need.

No teacher wants to teach suffering students. One of the major problems in our school in this day and age remains ... prepare to disbelieve!... WATER! Students have serious problems bathing and washing clothes. So you find those Moi favoured schools where these facilities are not only available but delivered with utmost efficiency, there are no "non performers". Kapsabet Girls is one such school. No matter how thick a student is, she will learn and pass exams. In places like Ukambani and Coast, students live in inhuman conditions due to poor facilities. Fix that and you have learning and teaching going on with alacrity

Extra curricular activities consume a lot of money but the benefits are immense. Unless you are Alliance which needs no advertising, a school needs a profile. Schools that perform well in sports and especially excel in individual games also "strangely" make a break through academically. So some of the schools I see around Limuru as I ascend to Nairobi can never be anything but factories. Who has ever followed a mass produced product to see how it performs out there?

What is required to build and equip laboratories is so little. I recently helped build a lab in a school near me. It cost less than 750K and it is way better than those built using CDF and government donations in their millions. So again, we are talking about mismanagement and corruption. School (Headteacher led) corruption has been ignored! We are looking the other way as principals ruin the future of our children!

Is there any link btw facilities and equipment with school performance. I think  a lot goes into producing good schools; facilities is one small part of it otherwise schools in turkana or west pokot would not be leading like they've done previously. For me it really down to teachers doing their part. A good teacher can produce great candidates sitting under the tree. There is no schools that can practically demonstrate everything including nuclear tech...so this test tube idea doesn't work.

We need ranking linked to teacher promotion and salary...any school producing poor grades should be somehow punished.

[RV Pundit]

Omollo, am afraid you're suggesting throwing money or resources, something we WILL NEVER have in plenty. There are many ways we can improve performance without spending a dime.

I say FOCUS on those. Zero cost ways of improving education quality.

For me it's down to supervision of teachers including management by Gov. It shouldn't matter whether one is studying under a tree or not...if you have committed parents, teachers and students. Absentism both by teacher and student. Failure to complete sylabus in time. Most of the private primary schools that excel have very little resources compared to public ones..majority sit on half an acre of land...but committed school owners, teachers and parents...see private schools which are bootstrapping owners resources beat nearly all public schools.

In kenya whenever there is a problem..like schools or police...you just hear we want more resources..we want better housing...we want better cars...better salaries..while real common sensical solutions cost nothing.

We are already spending way too much on public education...150B on teachers salary..plus capitation for primary, high school and university student..costing more billions..leave alone school equipments and books..Laptops.

But are we getting value from those resources? Are teachers attending school regularly? Are teachers really teaching? Most teachers are teaching near their homes..there is no need to burden parents with housing.

Actually yes.

The reason teachers fight for government schools in Nairobi and Machakos is simple: A huge colonial bungalow at the rent price of mandazi. There you are housing and a good life.

Those schools in Kenya with high quality staff amenities have a long "waiting" list of potential teachers. They are spoilt for choice when it comes to getting new teachers.

Now those same teachers would not go to a school where the teaching facilities cause them headaches. They need to meet clean spacious classrooms which can allow learning top go on regardless of the weather. A decent library and easy access to every textbook and reference material they may need.

No teacher wants to teach suffering students. One of the major problems in our school in this day and age remains ... prepare to disbelieve!... WATER! Students have serious problems bathing and washing clothes. So you find those Moi favoured schools where these facilities are not only available but delivered with utmost efficiency, there are no "non performers". Kapsabet Girls is one such school. No matter how thick a student is, she will learn and pass exams. In places like Ukambani and Coast, students live in inhuman conditions due to poor facilities. Fix that and you have learning and teaching going on with alacrity

Extra curricular activities consume a lot of money but the benefits are immense. Unless you are Alliance which needs no advertising, a school needs a profile. Schools that perform well in sports and especially excel in individual games also "strangely" make a break through academically. So some of the schools I see around Limuru as I ascend to Nairobi can never be anything but factories. Who has ever followed a mass produced product to see how it performs out there?

What is required to build and equip laboratories is so little. I recently helped build a lab in a school near me. It cost less than 750K and it is way better than those built using CDF and government donations in their millions. So again, we are talking about mismanagement and corruption. School (Headteacher led) corruption has been ignored! We are looking the other way as principals ruin the future of our children!

[Omollo]

There is a limit to how far the no-cost reforms you suggest can go. It's not that they have never been tried before. They have indeed. The problem is that these type of reforms achieve most where everything else in place except performance by teachers and students.

Pundit, it does not matter whether a student attends a chemistry class every day and even uses vacation time to "study". If this guy has never seen a test tube before exams, he is cooked. In principal I have nothing against learning under a tree. I did love to hold those lessons outside the classroom. However some parts of Kenya - indeed most places in Kenya - cannot support learning under a tree.

Let's take your home area - Sotik. Mogogosiek recorded rain daily in one year - is it 1980 or 84 - I don't know. That means no classes could be held in that area for the entire duration of school for that year! Areas like NEP and Tana need expensive classrooms to be at par with those of other areas. The classrooms must be built to cool the environment inside. Otherwise the blowing sand, heat, etc is just not conducive to learning. I know that for years learning had to stop at 12 noon in all schools in NEP due to the high temperatures.

So you cannot escape spending if you need to stop kids running from one area to those perceived to be "better"!

Lastly, I think teachers in Kenya deserve a break. No other country on earth has a system that dumps parenthood on teachers without paying them for rendering that service like Kenya does! Boarding schools are now taking in younger and younger kids. All Pundit needs to do is get a baby, at 2 he can take him to boarding school and visit when he can. or wait until 6 (but everybody knows it is now 4) take him to primary school - with boarding. The kid can come home for a week before returning for coaching (which returned after Mutula died). after standard eight, he will go to high school and from there to university. All Pundit needs is to pay.

Omollo, am afraid you're suggesting throwing money or resources, something we WILL NEVER have in plenty. There are many ways we can improve performance without spending a dime.

I say FOCUS on those. Zero cost ways of improving education quality.

For me it's down to supervision of teachers including management by Gov. It shouldn't matter whether one is studying under a tree or not...if you have committed parents, teachers and students. Absentism both by teacher and student. Failure to complete sylabus in time. Most of the private primary schools that excel have very little resources compared to public ones..majority sit on half an acre of land...but committed school owners, teachers and parents.

In kenya whenever there is a problem..like schools or police...you just here we want more resources..we want better housing...we want better cars....while real common sensical solutions cost nothing.

[RV Pundit]

Omollo, i wish we had some research data that would help us identify the loose hanging fruits otherwise anything that is going to need resources and a lot of it will have to wait; For me the teacher make all the difference in class; we need to keep moving the grade for qualification of a teacher..from C now to something like every primary school be a graduate with bachelors...this is what is making the difference in places like Finland.

I think the most modest of school....a shade from weather..is goog enough...to produce high quality student.

In short.....we have to squeeze all we can from our current investment...without giving teachers, school management and gov excuses. And of course student whether studying under tree or 5 star hotel have no excuse to fail...and we should not make it easy...by avoiding ranking.

There is a limit to how far the no-cost reforms you suggest can go. It's not that they have never been tried before. They have indeed. The problem is that these type of reforms achieve most where everything else in place except performance by teachers and students.

Pundit, it does not matter whether a student attends a chemistry class every day and even uses vacation time to "study". If this guy has never seen a test tube before exams, he is cooked. In principal I have nothing against learning under a tree. I did love to hold those lessons outside the classroom. However some parts of Kenya - indeed most places in Kenya - cannot support learning under a tree.

Let's take your home area - Sotik. Mogogosiek recorded rain daily in one year - is it 1980 or 84 - I don't know. That means no classes could be held in that area for the entire duration of school for that year! Areas like NEP and Tana need expensive classrooms to be at par with those of other areas. The classrooms must be built to cool the environment inside. Otherwise the blowing sand, heat, etc is just not conducive to learning. I know that for years learning had to stop at 12 noon in all schools in NEP due to the high temperatures.

So you cannot escape spending if you need to stop kids running from one area to those perceived to be "better"!

Lastly, I think teachers in Kenya deserve a break. No other country on earth has a system that dumps parenthood on teachers without paying them for rendering that service like Kenya does! Boarding schools are now taking in younger and younger kids. All Pundit needs to do is get a baby, at 2 he can take him to boarding school and visit when he can. or wait until 6 (but everybody knows it is now 4) take him to primary school - with boarding. The kid can come home for a week before returning for coaching (which returned after Mutula died). after standard eight, he will go to high school and from there to university. All Pundit needs is to pay.

[Omollo]

I am not against ranking as long as it is NOT done by GoK. GoK can't be telling parents that the school you are taking your kid to is at the rock bottom and chances of you passing exams is zero. It is morally reprehensible and potentially exposes the state to serious litigation arising from willfully denying a child quality education. But... they are free to resume should they succumb to the Academy Mafia.

I agree that the teacher makes all the difference. That is why I have been critical of the current "Give-Us-More-Money" trade unions - with NUT (kiswahili for Kichaa) leading. Teachers need a guarantee to post qualification education. It should be free and mandatory. The so called "Special Education" must be offered to all teachers with a view of giving equal opportunity to disabled children and improving the teacher ability to deal with students with learning difficulties.

This is in addition to the improvement of efficiency. It starts at the top Pundit. The PS education is a lucrative post. All you have to do is embark on a tour of schools. You will receive your envelope from each and every school. If in Kapsabet, all the head teachers will collect cash which will then be handed to you at one of the schools.

The principals then have bought their protection. They keep the local TSC and Ministry officials happy with alcohol and regular envelopes and they are free to roam. Most principals spend about 2 hours a week in school. They come to collect more money and off they go. The serious ones are supervising their "investments" such as rental houses, matatus etc. But most are just running from lodging to another with all types of women.

An absent Principal means teachers can also take time off.

I would insist on random drug tests.

Omollo, i wish we had some research data that would help us identify the loose hanging fruits otherwise anything that is going to need resources and a lot of it will have to wait; For me the teacher make all the difference in class; we need to keep moving the grade for qualification of a teacher..from C now to something like every primary school be a graduate with bachelors...this is what is making the difference in places like Finland.

I think the most modest of school....a shade from weather..is goog enough...to produce high quality student.

In short.....we have to squeeze all we can from our current investment...without giving teachers, school management and gov excuses. And of course student whether studying under tree or 5 star hotel have no excuse to fail...and we should not make it easy...by avoiding ranking.

[RV Pundit]

Right. These are low hanging fruits.The mess start with min of education, then inspectors, then head teachers, and then teachers. And only way parents can make noise if when the school is rank last. What can parents do to retaliate against this academic mafia. Maybe Musa Ndunda thing of parent association can be made powerful?

I think ranking should be refined..and linked to promotion. It should be weighted based on school resources, teachers,average distance to school, insecurity, hardship and etc.

Such a ranking index can easily be developed.  And based on such an objective ranking..teachers can be promoted and demoted. Also schools that do well can be given more money.

For instance a school in NEP that is scoring 200 will be ranked equally with one in  nairobi scoring 300.

I am not against ranking as long as it is NOT done by GoK. GoK can't be telling parents that the school you are taking your kid to is at the rock bottom and chances of you passing exams is zero. It is morally reprehensible and potentially exposes the state to serious litigation arising from willfully denying a child quality education. But... they are free to resume should they succumb to the Academy Mafia.

I agree that the teacher makes all the difference. That is why I have been critical of the current "Give-Us-More-Money" trade unions - with NUT (kiswahili for Kichaa) leading. Teachers need a guarantee to post qualification education. It should be free and mandatory. The so called "Special Education" must be offered to all teachers with a view of giving equal opportunity to disabled children and improving the teacher ability to deal with students with learning difficulties.

This is in addition to the improvement of efficiency. It starts at the top Pundit. The PS education is a lucrative post. All you have to do is embark on a tour of schools. You will receive your envelope from each and every school. If in Kapsabet, all the head teachers will collect cash which will then be handed to you at one of the schools.

The principals then have bought their protection. They keep the local TSC and Ministry officials happy with alcohol and regular envelopes and they are free to roam. Most principals spend about 2 hours a week in school. They come to collect more money and off they go. The serious ones are supervising their "investments" such as rental houses, matatus etc. But most are just running from lodging to another with all types of women.

An absent Principal means teachers can also take time off.

I would insist on random drug tests.

[Logan]

You have to be very careful before you endorse haphazard changes effected in kenya... look:

Every time abrupt laws are passed in that rotten country, there is an ulterior motive to benefit a few just for the spur of the moment..before they are reverted to the old formula...by then, irreparable damage will have been done changing others' lives forever.... 

this has created an opportunity for some officials to deny deserving students Form One places so as to allocate the slots to their friends through the back door.

Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000146377&story_title=form-one-intake-puzzle-after-end-of-ranking-order

I agree with this assessment. When you take a look at the reasons given by the MoE, you'll find that they're totally bogus.  I'd like any nipatean to give me any reason (besides those that I've called out as baseless.)

http://nipate.com/no-rankings-as-kaimenyi-releases-kcpe-results-t51208.html

National Schools in Western Kenya have been forced by the Ministry of Education to admit students from other regions who scored below 50 percent in the KCPE exams into Form One, the Star has established.

Bunyore Girls, Kakamega High School, Lugulu Girls and Friends Kamusinga have enrolled students with marks as low as 211 and 214, although they are National Schools supposed to accept the high-performers.

The marks in question are well below the pass mark for entry into a National School.

The exact reasons for the skewed admission and bias were not stated.

This admission of low-performers locks out deserving students who scored more than 400 marks.


 


Source THE STAR

[gout]

if they are really 'National' they should be able to transform the 214 marks into As after 4 years ....

The highly rated national schools are a fallacy- they poach the best KCPE pupils who no matter where they go they are expected to perform better ...this 214 marks is a real test