High school fees, uniform costs blamed for Grade 10 transition chaos - Report

At least 39 per cent of Kenyans have blamed the confusion witnessed over Grade 10 transition on high cost of school fees and uniforms.

A poll conducted by research firm Infotrak shows that many parents believe that the Competency Based Education (CBE) system has not improved the quality of education or delivered meaningful change.

The transition of the first cohort of learners who completed Grade 9 to Grade 10 in senior secondary schools continues to face multiple challenges.

Parents and Grade 10 learners across the country say the high cost of education under the new CBC system remains the biggest hurdle.

School fees and uniforms have been identified as the main obstacles preventing many learners from joining senior secondary schools.

Johvine Wanyingo, Senior Field Operations Manager at Infotrak, said: “High cost of education accounted for 39 per cent followed by lack of information at 19 per cent, lack of school fees at 13 per cent and lack of learning materials at 2 per cent.”

Forty five per cent of parents say they are dissatisfied with and do not understand the new system of placing learners into different levels based on KJSEA results and see no difference from the previous system.

“A lot of parents say they don’t see a difference in the current CBE grading system and still feel it is the same as the 8-4-4 system which graded learners on performance,” Wanyingo said.

51 per cent of Kenyans believe the new CBE system has not improved education quality or has made it worse while 38 percent say it is better than the 8-4-4 system.

“Many parents who went through the 8-4-4 system feel the new system has failed especially in how results are ranked,” Wanyingo added.

The survey recommends that the transition process from Grade 9 to Grade 10 be reviewed with calls for the government particularly the Ministry of Education to strengthen implementation and introduce new measures to achieve a 100 percent transition.