The 8-4-4 system of education is to blame for the poor quality of graduates, a Quality Assurance and Standards (QAS) officer has said.
Kisumu County QAS officer, Julius Odongo said the system is too academic and linked it to employers’ concern that learning institutions are churning out half-baked graduates.
“It is wrong to have someone go through eight years of education only to be tested for three days. If that individual fails, he is condemned as a failure,” he said in reference to primary education.
He argued that several factors may lead to underperformance that may not be related to a pupil’s intellectual capability.
Odongo said 8-4-4 was introduced to be a practical approach to learning and learners were highly specialised in various fields of interest.
“The scrapping of technical subjects from the system dealt a blow to this. And even though pushing those courses to technical and vocational institutes was a good idea, it also created an educational gap that continues to bedevil the system,” he added.
Odongo said, “It is challenging to go to a technical institute without prior knowledge of the basics at an earlier level. These were the things 8-4-4 sought to resolve, but which were scrapped off the system.”
He said whereas the quality of syllabus has shown progress, the mode of delivery has perpetually deteriorated as the ratio of tutors to student widens. He added that the rising number of students that one lecturer has to deal with is partly to blame for dropping quality of graduates.
Odongo said the planned overhaul of the system that seeks to return practical approach to the curriculum is long overdue.
“This would discourage unhealthy competition that sometimes leads to some schools resorting to malpractices to ensure they perform in exams,” he said.
The government is proposing a 2-6-6-3 (two years in Early Childhood Development Education, six in primary, another six at secondary, and at least three at the university) system to replace the current one in education reforms.
The reforms seek to change KCPE and KCSE to Kenya Primary/Secondary Scholastic Assessment (KPSA and KSSA) and the examiner from Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) to Kenya Education Assessment Council (Keac), which will be mandated to assess learning process on top of evaluating examinations.
He said if the proposed system cannot be embraced, then there should continuous tests which evaluate progress. This he said would be a better way of ensuring the eight years in primary and four in secondary are not wasted at the exit stage.