KNEC Introduces New Better Grading System For KCSE 2023 Exams
Major changes to the way the fourth form national exams are marked may increase the chances of success for millions of 8-4-4 students.
President William Ruto accepted new recommendations to update the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) as part of the recommendations when he met with the Education Reforms Team.
The President’s Task Force on Education Reform suggests using two required subjects in the KCSE exam to determine students’ final results.
One language (English or Kiswahili) and mathematics will be required subjects.
The candidate’s five top-rated subjects and these two subjects will be combined to determine the final grade.
The Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) currently evaluates applicants based on their performance in two additional topics and the best scores from the five compulsory subjects.
Knec takes into account a candidate’s performance in the required subjects of maths, English, and Kiswahili, as well as two sciences from among physics, chemistry, and biology.
The final two subjects come from humanities and arts disciplines and are chosen from technical subjects like agriculture, business studies, geography, and history as well as religious education.
Develop rules for computing the average KCSE score (based on English/Kiswahili, mathematics, and the other top five subjects), according to the reform team’s suggestions.
The group suggested that the modifications be performed in a year. Thus, the 2023 candidates will be the first to profit from the new plan if they are impacted.
Out of the 11,000 secondary schools in the nation, more than 5,000, many of them in rural areas, are not sending even one student to college, according to President William Ruto.
“We conduct some introspection as a result. Many of the graduates from our colleges are the offspring of elite families and those who can afford a particular level of education. Kenya cannot continue in this manner; we must reconsider,” he said.
At Konza Technopolis City’s launch of the Open University of Kenya, President Ruto made a speech.
The recommendations were supported by KNEC CEO David Njengere, who noted that the present assessment system had dashed the hopes of numerous graduates.
According to Dr. Njengere, the modifications would make it impossible for students in the eight-four-four system’s final five classes to save their goals.
Currently, there are five classes in the nation that use the 8-4-4 system of instruction. The final cohort, who will graduate from high school in 2027, will take the KCPE exam this year, which implies they will start high school in 2024.
Also Read: KNEC issue Compulsory Subjects to determine Overall Grade At KCSE
According to Dr. Njengere, the presidential task force’s suggestion restructures the grading system to take a student’s desired career interests into account.
“The issue with what we’ve done with 8-4-4 is that it has a highly constrained and rigid curriculum that, at the point of termination, mandates that every child, regardless of their academic prowess, take the same tests in the same areas, which count towards their final grades. For any child, it’s a lot of work that requires hard lifting, Njengere added.
Njengere said that understanding the KCSE’s design is crucial to comprehending the issue. He discovered that the examination was designed to fulfil two purposes.
The first step, according to Dr. Njengere, is to assess secondary school students’ performance over a four-year period. The second function, according to him, is that it serves as a transitional marker to show the student where he or she is headed next—either a college or a university.
The latter, according to Dr. Njengere, is a problem for many Formula 4 graduates because the ranking system lowers their total performance.
The ripple effect, he claimed, has prevented thousands of people from continuing their education past high school.
Njengere claimed that the KCSE has been reduced to an exam that determines where a student advances and overlooks the goal of evaluation as a result of the intense competition in the final test.
In an interview with the Standard on Wednesday, Dr. Njengere stated, “Curriculum requirements should in no way prevent you from transitioning because you have to transition in life, whether it’s due to age or achievement.”
He used the example of a candidate with a social science bent who must consider passing two science courses because failing those two will reduce their final score and increase the likelihood that they will not be admitted to their desired course.
Not because I’m stupid, but because of system requirements, no matter how well I perform in my languages and humanities, these three will drag me down, and I end up with an average score that puts me together like a C or something.
We are penalising the students, he continued. For instance, we might tell a kid who excels in science that he must also pass in English, humanities, and so on. Since that student is incapable of doing so, we are wasting resources.
Students who lean more towards the sciences and who are required to be evaluated in English and literature, Kiswahili, and Fashihi are subject to the identical case scenario.
“The president’s task committee is essentially questioning if it is necessary for some topics to hold you back as soon as you graduate from high school if you want to pursue a specific career path that doesn’t necessarily require you to achieve great marks in all of these subjects.
According to Dr. Njengere, all disciplines are crucial for pupils to learn in order to develop fundamental abilities like literacy and maths, even if they don’t necessarily require such skills in the workplace.
However, he emphasises that there must be a distinct distinction made between the acquisition of this fundamental knowledge and the evaluation of the student during the KCSE exams.
You must have some basic numeracy skills, he continued, therefore we will evaluate you based on your performance. It turns out that Kenya has been ranked lower than other nations under the present ranking system.
According to an analysis of statistics from the East African region, for instance, Kenya has the lowest percentage of distinctions, also known as A and A- (minus) grades in the final national examination.
Kenya’s results, in contrast, declined by only 0.85%. Only 7,553 candidates, the equivalent of honours in Uganda and Tanzania, were able to receive an A or an A- (minus).
“At this point, you start to wonder whether the issue isn’t the pupils, but rather the grading system we employ for our children,” said Dr. Njengere. “Perhaps we’re employing a system that’s too harsh for them and we’re not separating success from placement.
KNEC Introduces New Better Grading System For KCSE 2023 Exams
