Poor performance in exams is a wake-up call for schools

The negative effects of the 10-month learning break imposed by Covid-19 have begun to manifest; the academic performance of learners has gone down.

Notably, it took time before the Education ministry could establish ways through which learners could continue with lessons away from the classroom. Technology held the answer, and the idea of online learning was considered as a stop-gap measure.

Yet by the time online learning was rolled out, it had become apparent that the arrangement did not favour learners from poor backgrounds, especially those in the rural areas where electronic gadgets like internet-enabled phones, laptops, computers and electricity remain luxuries many can only dream of. And though urban areas held the advantage in terms of online learning, not all learners had access to online learning tools, which resulted in serious learning gaps.

Following national examinations conducted by Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) recently, serious learning gaps among Grade Four learners, pioneers of the 2-6-3-3-3 system of education, were identified. Poor scores were recorded in their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills.

Knec also noted that most Class Eight candidates had difficulty in communication skills and that many were unable to punctuate correctly. This dismal performance is indicative of a learning loss that is attributed to lack of face-to-face learning where the teacher is physically present, and inaccessibility of online learning.

The long and short of it all is that teachers have a difficult task to bridge the gap left by the 2020 learning void. With such learning loss, this year’s KCPE and KCSE performance might not meet expectations. Nevertheless, teachers and students must redouble their efforts so as to improve performance.

To be fair to learners who have dropped in their performance due to lack of learning materials and access to online learning, it might be necessary for the ministry to factor this during the admission of students to Form One so that students from rural areas who fail to meet the cut do not miss out on the best schools.

In the same vein, the government should consider adjusting the cut-off marks for university admission so that bright student are not locked out because of reasons that were beyond their control.