90% Of Trainees in TTCs Fail KNEC Exams
There is a crisis in teachers’ colleges across the country, with nearly half of the trainees who sat for Knec exams failing. This revelation came to light during a graduation ceremony at Moi Teachers’ College in Baringo, where 130 out of 360 trainee teachers received referrals.
Senior principal Richard Nduati expressed shock at the high number of referrals imposed by the council in last year’s exams, and he mentioned that other colleges registered even higher failure rates, something unprecedented.
The mass failure could be attributed to the tough guidelines introduced by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i in the management of national examinations. These stringent guidelines led to a significant number of candidates scoring D and below in Form Four national exams.
Kenya National Examinations Council acting chief executive Mercy Karogo acknowledged that the number of students who failed the exams was high but did not disclose the figures. Those who failed the exams will have to wait until the end of the year to resit them.
Students who join teachers’ colleges are required to have scored at least a grade C (plain), and more than 20,000 students graduate from both private and public teachers’ colleges annually.
This mass failure presents challenges for these institutions, which will need to find ways to accommodate increased numbers of students repeating their second-year training. The exact cause of the decline in performance is unclear, but it may be related to strict exam management measures aimed at curbing cheating.
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Baringo TSC county deputy Director Francis Macharia called on teachers to improve school performance in national exams, emphasizing the importance of teacher appraisal programs.
This situation also highlights the ongoing debate about the direct employment of teachers who graduate, as the country currently faces a shortage of 87,000 teachers. Under the new curriculum, the entry grade for those wishing to join the teaching profession will be raised, with higher academic standards proposed for various levels of teaching positions.
Additionally, there are calls for improved communication skills among teachers and the inclusion of mentorship and talent nurturing in teacher education.
90% Of Trainees in TTCs Fail KNEC Exams
