Knec team proves that exams can be done with minimal disruptions

The ministry of Education was shaken up earlier this year, with the entry of new blood right from the top. Dr Fred Matiang’i entered the ministry with a bang, promising change and probity in the management of affairs in the ministry.

While many Kenyans were expectedly cynical about his promises, he set about reforming institutions in the ministry in order to streamline its operations and halt the spreading infection of extreme corruption that seemed to have spread so deep that nobody thought it could be cured.

In the short time he has been in the ministry, he has shown that when the top operatives in an institution are committed to a goal, their enthusiasm often permeates to the most basic levels of the organisation.

The minister’s enthusiasm to reform the system and ensure integrity can no longer be ignored, and all institutions in the ministry have felt the force of his character.

From early childhood education centres to institutions of higher learning, set standards are being enforced, and many administrators are scrambling to ensure their institutions do not run afoul of regulations. Those that have flouted rules with impunity are running around like headless chickens, closing campuses here and investing in human and other resources elsewhere in order to finally meet the requirements.

Secondly, in the past couple of decades, national examinations have degenerated into a farce in which children in well-endowed schools are given further advantage by getting the examination questions in advance after paying some “motivation fees”.

The practice has been so widespread that parents in many schools have institutionalised the theft and cooperate with unscrupulous educators presumably for the sake of their children’s future. Unfortunately, they lose sight of the fact that they have, in so doing, been setting their children up for failure in today’s competitive society where shortcuts often lead to perdition.

To deal with this menace, a new team led by Prof George Magoha was brought in to replace the old administration at the Kenya National Examinations Council.

Within a few months, they made such significant changes in the system that there was not even a hint of leakage in the recently concluded Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations as has been customary in the past.

CONCLUDE SMOOTHLY

The secondary examinations are also expected to conclude smoothly, and all indications are that there are unlikely to be any serious irregularities.

The teams assembled by Prof Magoha’s administration at the Examinations Council to manage the examinations has ensured that any suspected malpractice is swiftly addressed and the culprits immediately apprehended and arraigned in court.

The mistakes are quickly corrected and the examinations go ahead with minimal disruptions. The teams have demonstrated remarkable cohesion and teamwork, and even the harshest critics of the Education ministry must concede that this year’s examination season has been much better than we have seen in the past two decades or so.

The changes in the ministry of Education cannot, of course, be attributed to the actions of any one individual. Obviously a number of factors have come together to ensure that tangible results are realised in such a short time. However, what is also obvious is that most of the elements have been in place over the period when irregularities were rife but, for some reason, the vice continued apace. What has changed this year is that those in the top echelons of the ministry are now speaking the same language and leading from the front.

We have seen the ministry, as well as Knec officials led by Prof Magoha, getting to the ground to participate in the examination administration and monitoring. In my view, what has been lacking in the past is leadership.

Atwoli is associate professor of psychiatry and dean, School of Medicine, Moi University; [email protected]