Every year thousands of candidates sit their KCSE under immense pressure — the system owes them more than good wishes
By Nicholas Mwendwa
Thousands of Kenya’s secondary school candidates yesterday began one of the most consequential weeks of their young lives, sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations that will shape their futures — yet the system designed to support them continues to fall short of what they deserve.
The Kenya National Examinations Council has done its part: timetables issued, centres supervised, logistics coordinated. Teachers have drilled, parents have prayed and students have studied through the night. The machinery of examination season is running. What is harder to measure is whether the weight being placed on these young people is matched by the preparation, resources and genuine support they are owed.
Examination malpractice remains the most visible symptom of a deeper problem. The government has introduced strict penalties for teachers and students caught cheating, and rightly so. Malpractice corrodes the integrity of every legitimate result and devalues the certificate that honest candidates work years to earn. But penalties alone do not address why candidates resort to cheating in the first place. When classrooms are overcrowded, textbooks scarce and teachers stretched beyond reasonable limits, the temptation to seek shortcuts does not arise from moral failure alone. It arises from a system that has not adequately prepared the students it then holds to account.
The burden falls unevenly. A candidate at a well-resourced national school enters the examination room with years of structured revision, experienced teachers and comprehensive materials. A candidate at an under-resourced county school in a marginalised area may have sat examinations without reliable electricity, sufficient teachers or adequate laboratory equipment. Both will receive a certificate that carries the same name. The difference in what each was given to succeed is rarely acknowledged publicly.
This is not a call to lower standards. Rigour in national examinations matters — for individual futures and for national credibility. But rigour must be accompanied by equity. Telling a student in a poorly resourced school to approach their examinations with confidence is not guidance. It is a platitude dressed as encouragement. Real support looks like trained teachers who remain in post, functional laboratories, adequate revision materials and a school environment where learning is genuinely possible.
Teachers carry a particular responsibility during this period. Explaining difficult concepts clearly, answering student questions without impatience and providing calm, honest guidance in the final days before examinations can make a measurable difference to how a candidate performs. Motivation matters. A student told they are capable, and shown why, is more likely to sit an examination with composure than one left to manage their anxiety alone.
To every KCSE candidate sitting examinations across the country: the pressure you feel is real, and it is not a measure of your worth. Work with what you have prepared, read every question carefully, manage your time and trust the effort you have put in. The examination is important, but it is one chapter — not the whole story.
Kenya’s education system will be judged not by how many certificates it issues, but by whether every candidate, regardless of where they studied, was given a genuine chance to earn one.
Similar Posts by The Mt Kenya Times:
- Police accountability on trial as seven officers face probe over journalist’s arrest
- Learners, teachers graduate from thrive for good organic farming training
- Future Is Female Mentorship Program opens applications for 6th edition, to unveil top 25 at Africa Fintech Summit in Kigali
- Best chances of mental wellness: Strategies for sustained well-being
- When police attack a journalist, democracy pays the price
About the Author
