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Time Kisii, Nyamira dug themselves out of rut of ignominy

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Published on Monday, 09 January 2012 12:07

Pity parents in the two Omogusii counties of Kisii and Nyamira where it has become tradition that each time national examinations are announced, they find themselves reading the rankings from the bottom upwards.

Leaders including elected leaders then immediately call journalist to state how disappointing they were to the poor results and that story or rather new bit ends there until the following year.

A few days ago, the 2011 KCPE results were released by none other than one of their leaders Prof Sam Ongeri who felt thoroughly embarrassed reading schools from his county coming the last.

I was not surprised that academies to where almost all parents want to take their children did poorly. The ministry is equally guilty for allowing bedrooms behind pubs, and shops being transformed into classrooms.

Prof Ongeri hearing the mocking laughter that reverberated across the venue as he read out the last performers, declared "obviously a policy statement will be issued" whatever that means.

Since that day, leaders from all cadres of life have been busy apportioning blame. Teachers complain of being overworked due to acute shortage of teachers to handle the large numbers enrolled, while parents point fingers at business-minded educators.

Embarrassing aspect

Politicians are now demanding a reshuffle of heads whose schools did not perform well. Now with all those and counter-accusations, when will real Gusii leaders stand and be counted? Why blame each other over split milk?

Were those leaders worth their salt, they would to lead the way and find an answer to perennial poor performance and the embarrassing aspect of exam cheating?

By now I would have expected MPs from all 10 constituencies to summon professionals from their respective constituencies to a serious consultative forum to discuss the results and education matters in general.

Such meetings must be devoid of suspicion that by having so and so in such a forum they could outshine a sitting MP.

Any leader worth his salt should have no fear coming face to face with the bright minds from his electoral zone.

Blaming teachers on their own won’t produce results.

As we whine, endlessly, in under one month Prof Ongeri will be announcing KCSE results and I won’t be surprised to hear the same lines coming from Kisii leaders after learners from the region register mixed results by being at the top and also not disappointing by missing in the lower ranks of the countrywide rankings.

It has been said before that Kisii region is fast growing into a huge slum and imagine what it will be with the majority of those slum dwellers being primary school drop-outs.

There is an urgent need for the Kisii leadership to call urgent consultative meetings and invite academics to talk to parents, learners and teachers on the bets way forward.

I suggest that parents of each school must resolve to raise money for evening and morning preps. We cannot pretend that government’s provision for free education is enough.

Salvage situation

We must be ready to contribute a few shillings out of which we will pay teachers willing to spend an extra hour with our children after normal hours and have them wake up long before dawn to teach examination classes ahead of the start of normal learning time.

When we were in school, caning was no big deal and we would then be ordered to bring to class canes which were used to ‘discipline’ us whenever we got a sum wrong or made silly grammatical errors.

Unless Gusii leaders wake up, address real issues rather that demand that schools be headed by village sons and daughters and protests over any attempt by a teacher to discipline an errant students, poor results will remain a preserve of the two counties for years to come. What a shame?

Demands by politicians that local sons and daughters head their village institutions must be ignored by the ministry and regular transfer to far-flung areas encouraged.

I am contemplating calling a stakeholders meeting with or without the blessings of elected leaders to try and salvage the situation.