Education Stakeholders want University Entrance Examinations
A section of education stakeholders has proposed the introduction of university entrance examinations to ensure that only deserving students get admitted to the institutions.
The universities are to carry out the tests on their own to ascertain that they are getting learners who fit the programmes they enrol in.
The proposal was made during a public event held in Kapsaret where participants deliberated on the education system in the country.
In attendance at the forum were Members of Parliament (MPs) educationists and members of the public.
Public hearings are going on and stakeholders have been urged to give their views on alleged malpractices in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.
According to one teacher who preferred to be anonymous, indeed examination cheating does happen and parents are involved and they pay huge sums of money to ensure that leaked examination materials are bought.
The teacher suggested that universities should have their own entrance examinations and should not depend on the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) to determine which applicants qualify to join the courses they offer.
The teacher also called for an end to the categorization of schools as this discriminates schools pushing school principals to give up on integrity to save the name and status of their schools and jobs.
He said that teachers experience too much pressure to ensure that their students go to universities. This is the reason schools improve by significant mean scores by around 4 points.
“It is suspect that students with good KCSE grades select great courses but drop by second year applying to defer or inter-faculty transfer,” said Nyamira County Women Representative Prof Jerusha Momanyi.
The issue of examination cheating has been going on for some time and it remains to be seen how it will be addressed to stem the vice. Besides, the categorization of schools has also been put forward as a contributing factor.
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