Summary:
- Teachers from several institutions have raised concern over the performance of learners due to the new form of exams used by KNEC.
The Kenya National Examination Council started school assessment on Monday, January 18 and ended on Friday, January 22.
In conducting its examination for learners in Grade 1 to 3 and 5 to 7, KNEC used a combination of multiple-choice and essay-based questions.
Speaking to The Nation, some teachers remarked that a good number of students were not accustomed to the late-type as they were used to the multiple-choice questions.
“Learners in Grade One to Three did not have a big problem answering the quizzes but for those in Class Five, Six and Seven, the assessments were a bit difficult,” one teacher explained.
Teachers remarked that most learners could not memorise what they studied before schools closure last year due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Learners from public schools and the private informal sector were mostly affected due to this new model as their respective learning institutions did not involve them in digital learning throughout the nine-month break, according to teachers.
The very model had cultivated concerns in 2020 when Grade 4 and standard 8 were assessed.
KNEC is expected to make a report on the performance of students across the country after teachers upload the results on the KNEC portal.
The school-based assessment tests which were drawn from previous classes and what the students learned in term one, were aimed at ascertaining the extent to which learners were affected during the 9-months break.
Grade 7 were assessed in all subjects while Grade 5 and 6 were assessed in Maths, Kiswahili, English, and Science.
Grade 1, 2 and 3 were tested on the elementary basics of Kiswahili, Maths, English.
