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Kisii High in Trauma Over Cancelled Results
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 17 July 2007 00:35
The school has long been viewed as the toast of the region as many of Nyanza's celebrated personalities passed through this school. Community leaders have refused to take the verdict of the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) lying down and have asked for investigations into a decision that led to the cancellation of results of 197 students.
The chairman of its board of governors, Prof Sorobea Bogonko, said the school was not satisfied with Knec's decision.
Kisii High, he said, had been improving steadily over the last eight years, moving up from the 229th place in 1997 to the 32nd position in 2003. Prof Bogonko said that last year, the school had set out to reclaim its 1945 glory as the best performing school in the Kenya colony. To achieve this, a lot of research was carried out with fact-finding visits to Tanzania, Uganda and other top performing schools in the country.
The schools results were cancelled for alleged collusion in chemistry, mathematics and biology.
Collusion, according to Knec, would involve teachers, students and the supervisors having prior knowledge of exam questions and revising thoroughly before hand.
This way, all the students who take part in the intense revision, that is drilling, are likely to have similar answers.
But deputy principal Omwoyo said doubts about the school's mathematics results are unwarranted because this had always been their strongest subject.
"Every student has to pass in mathematics before we allow him to proceed to the next class," said Mr Omwoyo.
To ensure that students pass in mathematics in the final exams the students are divided into small groups, depending on their abilities, and given a teacher to coach them.
Slow learners are put in groups of six students and given a teacher to coach them, said Omwoyo,
"We do well in mathematics every year. Prior to the exams, every teacher with a mathematics combination has to coach the students in small groups," he says.
Kisii High School principal Patrick Monyenye refused to comment on the allegations and said his superior, the provincial director of education (PDE), Abdullahi Hajji Abdi, who was present, would address the Press. Mr Monyenye then left his office. Mr Abdi, who attended the school's board of governors meeting, said the Government had launched investigations into the cheating in Kisii High and 30 other schools in Nyanza Province.
He warned that any teacher or education officer implicated in the cheating would be disciplined.
"I don't expect students in different rooms to collude without the help of somebody else. We want to know who this other person is," said Mr Abdi.
In the case of Kisii High, irregularities in the exam were not detected during the exam but at the marking. The PDE noted that the exam supervisor wrote a positive report.
Kisii High school was founded in 1934 as a primary school by the Local Native Council. It was one of the three schools developed by Africans in protest against missionary schools that were viewed as more focused on indoctrinating Africans than equipping them with critical analytical skills.
Kakamega and Kagumo also fitted this category. The schools later came to be known as "the three Ks".
Throughout the period of the independence struggle and after, the Three Ks consistently performed well in the Form Four and Form Six examinations. Form Six was later scrapped.
But their fortunes changed for the worse in the 1980s. It is only in recent years that the schools began to make a mark in the exam charts.
For Kisii High, the results nullification is a major drawback in its comeback bid.
A parent at the school, Mrs Ellen Nyagisere, said the Knec had subjected her and their children to intense trauma.
Her son, Nemwel Nyagisere, one of the candidates, is the first-born in her family. Mrs Nyagisere has been paying his fees since 1991 when her husband died. She was very optimistic that he would pass the exam.
"I was very sad when I heard of the cancellation. My son cried throughout," said the mother of two.
"My husband died in 1991 and left me with two children whom I have been educating and feeding with my meagre income. I am only a peasant farmer," said Mrs Nyagisere.
Mr Gilbert Onyono, whose brother's result were also nullified, said students had worked hard to prepare for the exams.
He said the school may have performed better than the traditional top schools in the examination prompting the Knec to doubt their results.
The co-operation between teachers, parents and students translated into good teaching and thus good results, he said.
"I am very bitter with Knec. If there was cheating, the supervisor and invigilators should have detected it during the exams. It is not possible to have a whole school cheat in the exams," said Mr Onyono.
Another parent Mr Ernest Ombiro, whose son Geofrey Sing'ombe, also had his results nullified, said he was quite depressed. "I came to visit my son during the exam and I was stopped at the gate. Nobody was allowed to enter the school compound to avoid cheating," he said.
Although Kisii High School's credibility is facing its toughest test, some parents maintain its past reputation will hold.
"There is absolutely no way I will transfer my son from Kisii High School," said Joshua Omasire.
"I know the history of this school and its criteria for selecting and admitting students is very high. They do not compromise on anything," he said. Omasire said the Knec must explain how six stream of 197 candidates could all collude and cheat in an exam.
"This is a school that has been steadily leading in this region for the last three years. "Here we parents pay a lot to ensure out children get the best and we know it is worth it," he said. Any teacher or education officer implicated in the cheating will be disciplined
