For the first time in many years, the government withheld the identities of the KCPE exam champions.
Ezekiel Machogu, the Education Cabinet Secretary (CS), only revealed the highest score and the distribution of the marks among the various score categories when he announced the 2022 KCPE results.
The highest exam mark, according to the CS , was 431 points out of a possible 500.
The top two scorers,
Otieno Lewis Omondi of St. Peter’s Mumias Primary
Fwaro Makokha Robinson of Christ the King Academy Bungoma, weren’t revealed to the media for over an hour.
According to the reports, President William Ruto has a strong preference for getting rid of the ranking of students and schools in national exams.
Ruto further said that the emphasis placed on national exams had reduced Kenya’s education system to a conduit for “just passing exams”.
According to a reliable source who declined to identify, the Head of State instructed the Education Ministry to do away with rankings at the announcement of the 2022 KCPE results before they were revealed on Wednesday, December 21.
According to reports, the president had ordered the adoption of proposals issued by a special education task team in 2014 that suggested eliminating rankings on national exams.
The Dr. Kilemi Mwiria-led task force, in its report, recommended that exams ranking must be reviewed and realistic measures of evaluating performance be adopted.
“The clamour accompanying announcements of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) needs to be lessened, especially with regard to ranking top schools and students,” read the 2014 report.
The Kenya Primary School Heads Association (KEPSHA) national chairperson Johnson Nzioka welcomed the government’s decision to discontinue the ranking of schools and pupils.
Ranking in national exams brings about unhealthy competition and motivates teachers and learners to pursue shortcuts,” said Nzioka.
The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary-General Akelo Misori echoed Nzioka’s sentiments.
“In education, we don’t celebrate success as one would in a football tournament,” he said.
The government hopes that the deviation would bring relief to parents whose children are scheduled to sit national examinations.
