Ministry should stop using the outdated KCSE test grading scheme
According to Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang, the Ministry of Education intends to change the way the KCSE exams are graded.
The new approach will evaluate learners more broadly, taking into consideration their five best subjects, as opposed to the previous 8-4-4 system, where students were graded across subject groups.
Kipsang stressed that the goal of this adjustment is to give students’ interests and skills priority.
The goal is to make it possible for students who are interested in careers in engineering or medical to be admitted to those programs, even if a lower grade in one subject had an impact on their total mean grade.
Kipsang emphasized that the grading of the national education system should primarily serve as certification and not only be used to determine placement in higher education institutions at a briefing on the proposals of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) in Mombasa.
Students with various interests and abilities were harmed by the prevailing system, which combined certification and placement.
In the future, literacy and numeracy skills will be heavily weighted in exam scoring. However, pupils who are currently enrolled in the 8-4-4 system will also be evaluated on their performance in either English or Kiswahili and five other disciplines.
The 8-4-4 system’s disproportionate emphasis on rote learning and academics, according to the PWPER, neglected the development of crucial abilities and moral principles that are essential for character formation.
The seven topics included in the current KCSE grading scale are English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, two scientific subjects, and two others. Some students were hurt by this strategy because their strongest subject—if it wasn’t in the designated cluster—wasn’t taken into account.
As a result, the PWPER suggested that the mean score for the KCSE examination, calculated by Knec, be based on mathematics, English or Kiswahili, and the other five disciplines where pupils perform the best.
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