Government and Policy

KUPPET Supports Backed Proposal To Allow Sick Candidates Skip National Exams

BY Getrude Mathayo · September 28, 2023 03:09 pm

The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) supports the proposal by Julius Melly to allow sick students taking national exams to be nursed until they recover, rather than having the exams administered in a hospital.

On 1^st September, Julius Melly, chairman of the National Assembly’s Education Committee proposed that candidate who is hospitalized or sick during the administration of the national Examination should not take exams and it would be unfair to burden an ailing student who has been hospitalized with exams, arguing that the candidates can be given supplementary exams after recovering.

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“Some students may be sick and some girls may have given birth. We need to come up with a better policy. You can’t give exams to a sick person in the hospital. You can’t give exams to someone who has just given birth. We’re talking to them about the remedies for this and looking at a recourse to do additional testing in the future,” Melly said during a visit to Mitihani House in early September.

“It is wrong to give an examination to a sick person: someone who had an operation and is on medication. It’s unfair, unkind, and inhumane, but in terms of the timetable, I don’t think it’s going to happen this year, but we’ve given them a directive on that.

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According to Apollo K’Opollo, chairman of the KUPPET Kilifi Teachers branch association, supported the proposal, saying that many students who become ill during exams find it difficult to complete their exams in hospital wards. Apollo added that he has asked the KNEC board to put in place adequate strategies to ensure that national examinations reach students on time, as the country is expected to experience El Nino rains.

This year’s candidates will not benefit from the changes as the recommendation was made too late when the exams had already been set. There’s no intervention for candidates who fall ill during the examination period and they are usually given the papers in the hospital while some miss out altogether.