School heads from Nyanza region have decried high rate of inflation during a meeting with the Education Cabinet Secretary Mr Ezekiel Machogu.
The Principals cited schools have gone into bad debt because of the state of the economy.
According to the heads prices of various commodities had gone up and most of them are now not able to purchase basic commodities.
Kindly consider that inflation has gone up, then we used to buy beans at Sh8000, now we buy at Sh17000, then we used to buy maize at Sh4000, now we buy at Sh8000
Achego Girls principal Millicent Odhiambo
“Kindly consider that inflation has gone up, then we used to buy beans at Sh8000, now we buy at Sh17000, then we used to buy maize at Sh4000, now we buy at Sh8000,” said Achego Girls principal Millicent Odhiambo.
They were speaking on Thursday, November 17, in Kisumu during a preparedness exercise for the three upcoming national examinations commencing on 28th November, 2022.
The principals further pointed out that the remunerations given to invigilators by the Kenya National Examination Council has never been revised for many years.
As part of his solution, the CS made a commitment of recruiting 30,000 teachers by January next year in order to deal with under staffing challenges.
National Examinations
On the examinations, the CS said they will use the multi-sectoral approach to handle national examinations.
Machogu said that the new strategy will involve all government departments where specific officials will be deployed to help administer the exams.
“We are here to give an assurance to the country that we are well prepared for this year’s examinations. The entire government, including my colleagues in the Cabinet will take part in the exercise,” he said.
My colleagues in the cabinet will be following this. We want to give assurance to Kenyans that this process will not be compromised, everything will be credible
CS Mochogu
Administering exams
He further stated the Ministry of Education will involve all Cabinet Secretaries, imitating a similar approach which was used by his predecessor to administer national exams.
“My colleagues in the cabinet will be following this. We want to give assurance to Kenyans that this process will not be compromised, everything will be credible,” he stated.
This year, candidates will sit for three national examinations.
The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) for grade 6 pupils is set to start on Monday, November 28, 2022, and end on Wednesday, November 30, 2022.
Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education is will kick off on November 21st.