Photo: Mtoto News
By Collins Orono
The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) is set to conduct school-based learning assessments for Grades 1 to 3 and Classes 5 to 7 this week from Monday 18th running for a week till Friday the 22nd this month.
In a circular to all head teachers, KNEC CEO Dr. Mercy Karogo says the assessments will inform on learning gaps and suggest interventions to be put in place to address the gaps as learners’ progress through the second and third terms of their academic year.
Standard 7 will be assessed in all the KCPE subjects that is Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Science and Social studies.
Standard 5 and 6 will be assessed in English, Kiswahili, Mathematics and Science.
Grade 1 to 3 learners will be assessed in Fundamental Literacy and Numeracy capturing English, Kiswahili and Mathematics Activities.
For all subjects and learning areas however, assessment items will be drawn from previous classes, grades and Terms. For instance, Standard 7 will be tested from Standard 1 to 6 and Term 1 of Standard 7.
Dr. Karogo highlighted that despite this not being a national examination, KNEC is interested in capturing the real outcome among learners urging education stakeholders to accord the exercise more attention.
“Please note that the reliability and integrity of the outcome of these assessments rests upon the head teachers and teachers. You are therefore called upon to ensure that learners are provided with a natural environment in order to guard against extraneous variable that could affect their performance,” she said.
This comes two weeks since schools were fully reopened on 4th January 2021.
Already results for the assessments conducted for learners in Standard 8 have been published, guiding teachers on key areas to focus on ahead of the KCPE examinations in March.