Learners excel despite Covid-19 threat

Mercy Mwai @wangumarci

The 1,179,192 candidates who sat for the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations performed well despite adverse effects of Covid-19 that kept learners out of school for the better part of last year.

 Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, who released the results yesterday, said despite a majority of people being pessimistic over the performance of the candidates, there was no much difference between this year’s and past years results

 “Many doomsayers predicted that the 2020 candidates would perform dismally. The good news, however, is that their performance is commendable and has shown no remarkable difference from the past years,” said Magoha.

 He attributed the exemplary performance to the assessment, which was given to the candidates when learning resumed in October last year. He noted that most teachers utilised the results to prepare them ahead of the examinations.

 Although the results of the assessment showed massive failure in almost all the subjects tested, it provided useful indicators to teachers on the knowledge levels of the Standard Eight candidates once they resumed school after the long break.

 The Government, with assistance of development partners, availed Sh1.1 billion Covid-19 recovery fund, part of which enabled Kenya National Examination Council to conduct the entry assessment.

Top grade

“I wish to commend teachers for utilising the assessment results to prepare candidates ahead of the examinations, a move that has led to the impressive results we are celebrating today,” added Magoha.

Release of KCPE exams in April is special, as it is a first of its kind owing to the effects of Covid-19 that paralysed learning for 10 months last year. 

Traditionally, KCPE results have often been released during the December holidays.

 It was also the first time that KCPE exams were undertaken early in the year, as they are traditionally written in October and November.

 The government was forced to close schools when the first case of Covid-19 case was reported in the country in March last year throwing the fate of 15 million basic education learners into turmoil.

 “We were simply at a crossroads, because we were fighting a disease, which confounded even top grade medics,” he added.