No remedial teaching ahead of exams, says PS

Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The Education Ministry has warned school heads over imposing remedial classes, noting the programmes are illegal.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang expressed concern that some school heads continue to impose illegal levies on parents to pay teachers who conduct remedial teaching.

"We cannot explain why we need extra hours in the name of remedial teaching," Kipsang said.

He said the hours the ministry has prescribed for teaching was sufficient for imparting skills, competencies and knowledge learners will apply in tackling examinations.

He pointed out that remedial teaching and the levies associated with it was a burden to parents.

"Extra levies had made us acquire a bad name under the name of remedial teaching," he said.

Kipsang spoke during a meeting with field education officials and national government administration officers counterparts in the Coast Region at Shimo La Tewa Secondary school in Mombasa on September 19.

Kipsang's warning comes at a time when primary and secondary schools are preparing for the national exams.

Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) exams are set to begin on October 30.

The Kenya Certificate Secondary Education (KCSE) exams on the other hand will begin on November 3 and conclude on November 24.

Kipsang said the ministry will put measures in place to ensure that examinations in the country remain credible.

He further called on educators to reclaim the trust of the society by managing this year's national examinations in an honest manner.

"As officers deployed to oversee the administration of national examinations, we must therefore ensure that we guard the conduct of the examinations against all sorts of malpractices so as to enhance credibility, validity and reliability of the examinations," he said.