Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has warned against the invasion of schools by parents and the public to harass teachers.
This was after parents stormed several learning institutions over claims of poor performance in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) 2023.
Through a statement released on January 15, 2024, Machogu noted that the Ministry of Education was concerned about the invasion and harassment trend.
“A few cases of teacher harassment over claims of poor candidates’ performance have been witnessed in some schools since results of the 2023 KCSE Examination were released on Monday, January 8th ,2024,” read the statement in part.
Machogu further went on to threaten police action, affirming that any other invasions to learning institutions shall be treated as acts of crime.
“Going forward, the Ministry of Education will treat any invasion to schools to frog-march teachers out of their workstations as acts of crime that will prompt firm and decisive action from law enforcers,” added Machogu.
According to the Ministry, the invasions appear to create the impression that the burden of poor performance in KCSE is be faulted to education officials.
Machogu raises alarm
“The Ministry is disturbed by this unfortunate trend, which appears to create the impression that the burden of poor performance in examinations must be exclusively borne by teachers, especially the Head of Institution,” he said.
The warning came amid a series of sporadic incidents where angry parents have confronted school administration over the dismal performances of their children in 2023 KCSE.
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On Thursday January 11, angry parents from Moiben, Uasin Gishu County, barricaded the gates of Mafuta Secondary School.
The parents were protesting over alleged persistent of poor performance of the school in national examinations.
They held demonstrations, calling for the removal of the principal and accusing him of failing in his responsibility to learners.
After the release of the examinations, the leading student had a D+, followed by a D -, while the rest of the candidates scored an E.
The parents who further forcefully ejected the principal from the school and accused him of several allegations.
Collective action
CS Machogu noted that learner achievement in examinations is the reflection of the overall input from all stakeholders.
Communities behind the reported attacks were reminded that the overall input includes parents, teachers and the candidates themselves.
Also, Machogu stated that his Ministry and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) have since put in place a robust and elaborate mechanism to counter poor performance.
“MoE and TSC have put in place a robust and elaborate mechanism for evaluating the performance of teachers and field officers which always ensure non-performing staff are dealt with in accordance with existing laws and policies,” added Machogu.
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Furthermore, the CS asked any stakeholder aggrieved by perceived poor performance of schools in national examinations to seek redress through the exisiting legal process.
Previous CSs Address Poor results
Previous Cabinet Secretaries have also in the years addressed cases of poor results in different national examinations.
Former Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i in 2017 raised his concerns over poor performance in that year’s KCSE examination.
However, he went on to assure Kenyans that the tough measures which he had introduced to fight cheating would be sustained.
This was in response to public outcry during that year as only 70,073 candidates managed the minimum university entry qualification out of 611, 952 candidates.
Furthermore, this was only just 11.5 percent of the total candidates who sat the KCSE that year.
The then Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) Chairman, the late Prof. George Magoha further defended the results.
He affirmed that the due process of results processing was followed as marking of the scripts was done with due diligence.
Also, during his tenure as the Cabinet Secretary in 2019, the late Magoha emphasized that poor results were not the end of life.
He further urged students, parents and guardians to be content with national examination outcomes.
Speaking during the release of the 2019 KCSE, Prof Magoha said that children and parents should accept and be proud of their results.
He went on to cite examples of some students who had performed poorly in KCPE but emerged leaders that year’s KCSE.
“Please whatever your child brings home appreciate it with positive heart, this is not the end of life you never know what you will be tomorrow,” said CS Magoha at the time.
