Why your child’s Grade Four results are not secure

 

Primary school heads are struggling to upload scores attained by Grade Four learners in an assessment carried out two months ago.

Teachers who spoke to the Daily Nation said it takes inordinately long to upload the data, raising queries about the system that is expected to carry the children’s cumulative results until they complete primary school.

The pupils were assessed from March 8 to 19, after which teachers marked the tasks and have been uploading the outcomes on the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) portal.

Subjects proving most difficult to upload are science and agriculture, as well as integrated learning areas for pupils with special needs. 

Examinations have been replaced with formative assessment in the competency-based curriculum (CBC). Learners will be assessed in Grades Three, Four, Five and Six, but only the last three will be used to determine performance at the end of primary school.

Assessment tools

The assessment the pioneer Grade Four class did last term was the first, with two more expected at Grade Five and Six.

This will contribute 60 per cent to the final tally. The remaining 40 per cent will be from a summative assessment at the end of Grade Six. 

Since there will be no tests, the cumulative scores will be used to place learners in junior secondary school. There will be competition for admission at national and other top-performing schools, making the assessments important.

Teachers also had a difficulties downloading the assessment tools in March due to downtimes at the Knec Learning Continuity in Basic Education portal.

National assessment

Meanwhile, Grade Three learners will start their national assessment on Monday. Knec yesterday uploaded the tools for teachers to download and print.

However, Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association chairman Johnson Nzioka protested, saying the council has repeatedly failed to allocate funds for downloading and printing the tools.

“Where does Knec expect headteachers to get money from?” Mr Nzioka asked. 

He added that since the first CBC assessment in 2019, Knec has not supported teachers financially “yet we spend a lot of money on internet bundles”.

The assessment will be administered from Monday to Friday and school heads expected to upload individual scores of learners by June 3.    BY DAILY NATION