Magoha praises Class of 2020 for shining in spite of Covid pandemic

Kaunda waren of Migori Primary celebrates after scoring 408 marks in the 2020 KCPE exam. [Caleb Kingwara, Standard]

Last year’s candidates who sat for the end of primary school exams braved the Covid-19 shockwave, lockdown and long closures to post better results than in 2019.

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha paid glowing tribute to the 2020 class as accomplishers and strong-willed and dismissed those who predicted they would record massive failures as “doomsayers’ and shamed them.

In the results, public schools some of which are at the bottom of the poverty ladder and risked being hit hard by the challenges of virtual learning, produced 10 of the top 15 KCPE stars. 

On the same breath and in his usual tough language and straight-talking, Prof Magoha revealed 20 counties registered fewer girls than boys in the exam. 

Despite the ongoing 8pm-4am night curfew in the red-zoned Covid-afflicted counties of Nairobi, Kajiado, Nakuru, Kiambu and Machakos, he said schools will reopen on May 10 except for grades four and Form One This would be 19 days before the renewed curfew order lapses. 

Five subjects recorded the best improvement, among them Mathematics and English Composition and Kiswahili Insha. However, in contrast, there was poor performance across the board in Kiswahili Lugha and the English language.