Head teachers want quota system scrapped

By Linah Benyawa

Education Minister Sam Ongeri has backed secondary school principals' calls to scrap the quota system of admitting Form One students terming it a disaster.

Prof Ongeri said there was need for diversification and integration in the education system to promote cohesion in the country.

"Let us stop inbreeding, it does not help, in fact it is a disaster. We need to integrate the country and the only way to do this is to reform the education sector by scrapping the quota system," said Ongeri.

The minister was responding to some recommendations by the school heads during the 36th Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KSSHA) annual conference in Mombasa.

The association’s national chairman, Cleophas Tirop, recommended that national schools should admit students from all the 47 counties and all the boarding provincial and district schools to admit 50 per cent from outside their counties.

"We are proposing that the current quota system be scrapped and replaced in a manner that national schools would admit from all the counties, and that schools to admit 50 per cent from outside their counties," said Mr Tirop.

High retention

The KSSHA chairman also proposed the scrapping of KCPE arguing that it was the root cause of the high retention and drop our rate.

"What is the purpose of KCPE, why are we harassing young people over emphasis on exams? This has led students to drop out because teachers think they are not ready for exams," he said. However, Ongeri said scrapping KCPE would postpone the problem to the secondary level.

"Why are we making student to repeat classes and retaining them just because you are chasing on examinations? I don’t believe that scrapping the KCPE examinations would help, but instead it would transfer the problem to the secondary level," he said.

The teachers also proposed the introduction of non-examinable subjects from Standard Six to allow pupils to develop talents and skills.