In last years KCPE, out of the top 100 students, 87 were from private academies.(Business Daily)
Forget about investors....the question is....Should the fate of all poor kids in Kenya be sealed the day they are born into poverty?What other means do they have to cross the social divide?Mungiki & car jacking?

Another concern i have with this KCPE business is the fact that marks are 'standardized' whatever that means. I know for example, a child who is said to have gotten 392 but internal sources at the exam body confirm original marks were 410..Surely!

So a child who actually performed well but was downgraded in the standardization maneno misses a chance to go a good school because of 1. standardization and 2. Quota. Not fair at all.

I feel this is putting politics above children. Which makes the national system a bad system.
Of course we all wish IGCSE was cheaper. If it will give a child a fair chance, it is better.

By the way, kuna Mwalimu ama mtu wa Education Ministry hapa? Ama Guka?

I could not agree more. Personally I come from Nyeri which for all intents is a district endowed with very good provincial Schools(e.g. Nyeri High, Kagumo, Bishop Gatimu Ngandu, Naromoru, South Tetu, Chinga Boys)and district schools (e.g. Othaya Boys/Girls, Endarasha, Gataragwa, Kaheti, Chinga Girls e.t.c. It is important to note that except for a few of the old schools constructed by the missionaries and the government all the other schools were constructed by the locals through Harambees and deductions in coffee and dairy proceeds. (By the way the same applies to Kimathi Institute). Now pray, why would you want to allow people from all over Kenya to come to these schools which the locals constructed?

Each area should endevor to construct and equip schools in their locality to ensure that even day schools in the area able to perform well (not necessarily like say Nyeri High but atleast have students obtaining Bs and C+s).

Additionally, what the government is doing is misplaced. When I joined form one(in a provincial school in Nyeri) in 1991 students from public scholls accounted for over 80% of the total population these days they are hardly 10% even formerly good public primary schools like Nyeri Primar are nowhere these days. The goverment and the local communities need to take a keen interest in what is going on in public schools. Do the teachers care? Do we still have school inspectors who would make all the techers run to class? Has KNUT become so untouchable that TSC fears displining teachers? (By the way KNUT armtwisted the govt to have TSC anchored in the constitution.

Those of us like me who would (were it not for education) be hunting rodents in shaggs should try to asssist our former schools either by employing teachers of putting in place a government that will take this problem more seriously!

Very true. On the issue of why private perform better than public it has to do with "drilling" for exams. Figure this: my std 2 son is made to cram a composition and re-write it on a full A4 paper every evening, I think this is immoral, unprofessional and downright cheating. Our children are not receiving education in these academies but are being prepared for KCPE right from day one of school.

This KCPE thing is the source of all evil in the education system, academies in cahoots with parents seek all ways to beat the system including stealing exams, cheating, registering non existing schools etc. For those of us who sat the KCPE/KCSE in the 90s, they can testify:

1. Most went to public primary schools and those days these schools out performed private ones. Remember Nyandarua District etc?
2. Only those who failed at KCPE went to private secondary schools.
3. There were Harambee streams in Provincial schools to admit those with lower grades.
4. The number of National schools has remained 18 over the years.
5. Garba Tula used to be a national school (it nolonger is).
6. Quota system of admission into high school is to blame partly for cheating at KCPE where parents take their children to school in district A and register them for KCPE in district B.

Why were the innocent kids not told before they sat their KCPE exams.

Why were their names read on the national TV, Why didnt they eliminate them from day one.

Why were their marks tampered with?

Why are they punished for their success?

I wish the poor children where prepared psychologically. It was not their fault that they were taken to private schools.