OPINION: Why Matiangi strict policies are churning out academic failures

A system that produces almost 90% unfavorable results is a failed system by any standard and as such should be reevaluated and corrected.

Of the over 600,000 students who sat 2017 KCSE only a paltry 11% scored C+ and above. This is just absurd!

While many would argue that education is no longer an essential success factor in Kenya and that academic grades have become worthless; the truth is that ceteris paribus, a person with good academic papers stands a better chance of bagging the few existing opportunities when compared to those without papers or have poor academic grades.

Branding a person a D or E "material" is thus atrocious especially when that person could have scored better grades should the marking process not hurried or unnecessary restrictions eliminated. The current education system therefore seems designed to fail the very students it is supposed to successfully train and help pass their final exams.

Matiang'i's restrictive and hurried policies are thus not helping our education system. Based on the latest KCSE results, it evident that these policies are just churning out academic failures,and massively hurting young Kenyans and in the process destroying their otherwise promising futures. Heroism does not manifest in failure; heroism comes out of success! Matiang'i is therefore not a hero and should not be celebrated as such, at least in relation to his performance as Education Cabinet Secretary so far.

It is thus time that we reevaluated our education system and redesigned it to help our students gain academic competence and life skills that will enable them to pass their exams and consequently pave for them genuine ways to successful futures.