Kepsha demands justice for teachers bullied by parents

By Patrick Kibet

Primary school head teachers have called for a review of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination.

While addressing the media in Nakuru, the Kenya Primary Schools Head Teachers Association (Kepsha) National Chairman Joseph Karuga faulted the exam for categorising pupils in terms of academic excellence only.

"We don’t take children to school to pass exams but also for character building. There is no price tag to national examinations," Karuga said.

Speaking after a three-day consultative meeting, the heads expressed concern over recent suicides by pupils and parents’ protests.

"We are saddened by what is happening; several children have taken their lives, teachers have been flushed out of schools with others committing suicide and children labelled failures," Karuga said.

Parents condemned

The association strongly condemned the demonstrations staged by parents against teachers in public schools and called for prosecution of those who ejected teaching staff from schools.

"We are collecting data on those demonstrations and whoever took the law into their own hands must be prosecuted," Karuga said.

The head teachers cited a case in one of the schools where the head teacher was beaten up because the school performed poorly in the exam.

Kepsha also called for the Form One selection process to be fair to all learners. The association urged parents to own up to their failures for abdicating their responsibilities to teachers.

Since the release of the KCPE results last December three pupils — Mercy Chebet, 14, from Kericho, Sylvia Wanjiku, 14, from Kathiani and Stella Limo from Nairobi have committed suicide.

Tension and anxiety

The school heads regretted that KCPE constantly brought unnecessary tension and anxiety to schools, pressuring students and teachers hence leading to the increased cases of suicides.

The association welcomed the ongoing reforms in the Ministry of Education, saying it planned to roll out a five-year strategic plan that would give direction in the management of primary schools while making them children friendly.

Kepsha also said it was gearing up for the General Elections later and that it would be rolling out a peace caravan through out Rift Valley Province.