Parents block the reopening of schools over exam results

Parents block the entrance to Tiritagoi Primary School in Njoro on January 6, 2020. They were demonstrating against what they termed as poor performance in the 2019 KCPE. The school had a mean score of 162. [Harun Wathari/Standard]

More than 600 pupils failed to report for the first term at Tiritagoi Primary School in Njoro, Nakuru County, after parents stormed the institution over its performance in last year’s national tests.

The school posted a mean score of 162 in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam.

“Since 2012, the school has been performing dismally. It has never had a mean score of above 200, yet the management cannot even call for a meeting to chart the way forward,” Ronald Kirui, a parent, said.

Joseph Otech, another parent, said the school's poor performance had forced some of them to transfer candidates to study in other schools and only come back to sit exams.

Parents said the leading pupil scored 252 marks out of 500, with the least score being 112 marks, claims The Standard could not immediately verify.

The parents claimed to have raised the matter with the Ministry of Education but had yet to get a response.

Emily Ringaso, a parent, added that the school's infrastructure was also in a sorry state.

By the time of going to press, the headteacher could not be reached on phone to respond to the allegations, while the Nakuru County education director Lawrence Karuntimi said his office had not received any complaints.

Poor performance

And in Homa Bay, parents at Suna Primary School locked out the headteacher to protest the school's score in KCPE last year. It registered a mean score of 213, with three out of 18 candidates getting more than 250 marks.

Godfrey Ombogo, the school's patron, said parents visited the Teachers Service Commission's (TSC) offices in Rachuonyo East but were yet to get help.

Mr Ombogo claimed funds had been mismanaged at the school and that the institution was imposing charges on parents that had not been sanctioned by the Education ministry.

"We cannot sit and watch as one man kills a school that gave us the foundation of what we are today. If the TSC is not ready to give us a new headteacher, then we will do without one," said John Owino, a stakeholder and former pupil.

Efforts to reach the headteacher for comment were futile, and Homa Bay TSC Director Grace Amira said she had not received any complaints.

Meanwhile, the issue of Form One admissions continued to occupy education stakeholders. In Kericho, 110 learners from poor backgrounds celebrated their being picked for the government's Elimu scholarship programme.

Speaking during a send-off ceremony for the beneficiaries at Moi Tea Secondary School, county education officer Moses Okeo said the students from Kipkelion, Ainamoi and Belgut constituencies were selected after a rigorous exercise.

"The government will sponsor the beneficiaries right from Form One to Form Four,” he said.

Kericho Equity Bank's branch manager Richard Kipkemoi said they had received at least 400 applications but could only pick 60 boys and 50 girls.

In Nakuru, however, hundreds of parents stood outside Nakuru Town West MP Samul Arama's office after their bursary fees application for their children were rejected.

According to the MP, the parents had not attached the necessary documents while applying for the financing to get their children to Form One.

Mr Arama said each student joining a government boarding school would receive between Sh25,000 and Sh38,0000 for the first term, depending on the school's fees.

And in Gilgil, area MP Martha Wangari claimed the Elimu scholarship programme is sidelining some constituencies in disbursement of funds to needy students.

“When Parliament resumes, I shall raise the issue as we do not understand the formality and procedure used to support bright students from poor backgrounds,” she said.

The MP was speaking in Gilgil Town after disbursing Sh3.8 million towards supporting 88 needy students in various secondary schools.

In West Pokot, three primary schools that have been serving as evacuation camps yesterday reopened after the government ordered landslide victims who had camped in the institutions for over a month to move out.

County Director of Education John Oyiego said the communities were evicted to pave way for learning. He added that he was monitoring pupil turnout in the three schools - Nyarkulian, Paroo and Parua primary schools - which, during the December holidays, served as safe havens for at least 1,000 victims of landslides and floods that hit the county in November.

"The government will start building their houses when they are in their neighbourhoods. The county government and Red Cross will soon begin to sort out the issue of resettlement and rebuilding of houses," Pokot Central Deputy County Commissioner Simiyu Were said. 

In Turkana County, 300 needy students expected to join Form One received free metal boxes, mattresses and writing materials courtesy of a foundation run by Turkana Central MP John Lodepe

Higher Education Loans Board Chairman Ekwee Ethuro, who was at the handover event, asked parents to ensure they prioritise the education of their children.

Shopping rush

And in Eldoret town, streets and sidewalks were packed as parents dashed into bookshops and school uniform outlets in a last-minute shopping rush.

Several of the parents The Standard spoke to said they could not find all the required books for the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

“I have gone to more than five bookshops in town and I have found only two (CBC) books in different shops. I am told that the other books have run out of stock,” Josephine Kirui said.

Ms Kirui is now worried her child may not be allowed to resume learning at one of the private schools in Eldoret without all the books required by the institution's management.

And in Elgeyo Marakwet, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) branch members took issue with the State’s 100 per cent transition plan to secondary school, saying the move would overstretch infrastructure.

Union county secretary John Chesergon said there is a lack of adequate classrooms and teachers to handle the large number of students who will join secondary schools under the policy.

 

[Caroline Chebet, Nikko Tanui, Joseph Kipsang, James Omoro, Anthony Gitonga, Irissheel Shanzu, Stephen Rutto, Edward Kosut, Bakari Ang'ela]