KCPE and The Poverty Trap

This week the results of last year's KCPE exams were released and as expected private schools dominated  top positions all over Kenya.
 Its such a shame that in 2010 a child's destiny is sealed by an examination that only serves to reproduce the existing class system in Kenya. The fact that Ministry of Education is bent on scuttling education reform when its not busy stealing FPE money is an indication that this nation is yet to realise the importance of education as a social class delineation busting force.
  Candidates come from diverse economic and social backgrounds. This fact is completely ignored in form one selection. The lack of quota system gives an edge to the upper echelons of society that can afford to send their kids to private schools which are equipped with proper facilities and personnel. It completely ignores vital factoids such as the performance of a student within the locality in which he was schooled and across his 8 years of primary education  when deciding his fate.
  Its pertinent that we change this archaic convoluted method . The paradox of the new Kenyan meritocracy is that its so far tilted in the favour of those that have resources and away from the poor. NEP and other places need to scrutinize this bias. Its despicable that private schools have a tight grip on top positions in the country and end up producing  future leaders, lawyers and purveyors of justice. We are only helping create a new aristocracy that is so out of touch with the pedestrian reality of the average person's life.

North Eastern Province KCPE Rresults

The best performing schools in Garissa this year were privately owned. Many of the city's public schools under-performed and big names like Garissa Primary were not even represented in the TOP 100. For another year the disparity between NEP and the rest of the country widened with NEP lacking representation in the TOP 100 nationally. However, the best candidate nationally beat his NEP counterpart by a meager 22 points which is way less than previous years. This disparity seems to be re-enforced by socio-economic conditions. Many of our schools lack the resources to compete on a national stage but it should be noted that the province and especially Garissa has been improving the quality and provision of education year after year since 2003.
Should current trends continue, I have no doubt that private schools in Garissa will go a long way in equalizing the socio-economic scale in the country. The sad thing is, many parents in the province cannot afford to send their Kids to these elite-I use the word liberally-schools. MPs should use CDF money to help public schools in hiring quality teachers and closing the gap. I wonder why most civic leaders, MPs and parents haven't realized the importance of education in correcting the archaic economic hierarchy that defines this nation. Its time our MPs woke up from sleep and worked to correct this glaring disparity. Education needs serious investment and if the government is not going to provide it, we as a whole should. Its time to start working from a blueprint instead of staggering towards failure.
Finally, a bit of good news, gender disparity in NEP seems to be slightly on the decline with girls taking up 33% of the top 100 positions.



KCPE

Quick Hits

Here are a few interesting things I wanted to share;

A Councillor from the Mt. Kenya region is single handedly trying to repopulate Kenya with sons and daughters of Agikuyu. Having noticed  the population of his ward had gone down year after year, he came up with an ingenious idea of monetary incentives for every pregnancy and birth ( I guess life birth).

For every pregnancy, a woman will earn a whopping Sh. 500 and every birth (life) Sh. 2000 bringing a whole new sense to the Kikuyu and money cliche. Full story as it appeared on The Daily Nation can be read here.

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Our friend from Gichugu, Martha Karua, the woman who thinks Nepians are refugees is calling for foreigners to take up 43% of positions in the country's supreme court. I guess the new constitution protects a person's right to their own warped delusions but for this woman to suggest all 39 million Kenyans are myopic tribalists is a travesty. Did she forget the IIEC & KNCHR? And don't get me started on foreigners unless by that she meant  Somali Pirates, who are the only people in Africa known to provide social justice in their regions of operation.

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The debate on whether to ban  the archaic KCPE tests has been gaining momentum as more and more powerful groups throw their support behind a proposal to make secondary education truly universal. This is an important development as this two and a half day exam does not in anyway reflect the capability of students especially those from less developed regions. I will write a lengthy entry dedicated to this issue alone.

Glad to know there are few thinking Kenyans in the National Assembly.

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Finally this sad thing happened; http://bit.ly/htVBnP