KUPPET Wants KCSE And KCPE Postponed With Immediate Effect

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has told the Ministry of Education to postpone national exams saying that students are not prepared psychologically.

According to KUPPET, the Government should concentrate on fighting Covid-19 and save the debate for changing national examinations for a later date.

KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori said the national exams can be pushed to 2021 owing to the current Covid-19 crisis that has disrupted the school calendar.

“We must focus our attention on health, then we shall ease the burden of anxiety on thinking about exams,” said Mr. Akello.

“The idea here is an exam being done on schedule (Ministry of Education and Kenya National Examination Council’s timeline) and that is what I don’t foresee taking place in 2020.”

Mr.Akello’s call, however, seems to contradict with other Kuppet officials who had suggested that schools should resume as soon as possible.

In April, KUPPET Chairperson Omboko Milemba said that online learning was not working in Kenya, and students should be allowed to resume school so that they could complete the syllabus in due time.

“We as the union had proposed that we postpone the exams. But postponing exams is not just excitement from the union, but it is one of the drastic measures that can be taken by the union. That is a very drastic measure but we may use it as our last wildcard.

“The truth is that online learning guided by parents is neither here nor there. Rule out that. We cannot count that as curriculum completion and syllabus coverage, so all the students need to go back to school and finish the syllabus,” Milemba stated

On the other hand, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha is for the opinion that National Exams should continue as planned telling students to brace for a longer time in class and shorter holidays.

CS Magoha outlined that the second term half term will be shortened by four days while the August holiday will be shortened by two weeks to enable learners to capture what they missed. The normal school day will also have longer hours.

These plans will, however, work only if the Coronavirus is completely dealt with.