From time to time people ask me about the schools in Kenya. They wonder mostly about things like computers and assume that because the schools we work in are so poor the kids probably don't learn much. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I, frankly, find that the kids know more in more languages than our kids of the same age do.
In November the National Exams take place for 8th graders. These are the most important exams the kids will take until they graduate secondary school. They are called the KPCE's and the marks will be the ticket to a good school, a national school, or not. Parents, who often don't have much to do with the schools until the exams, worry greatly about the exams and the results can be tragic to say the least.
This year a couple of young girls committed suicide because of their marks, and today I read that a headmaster killed himself because of the poor showing of the children in his school.
But instead of my describing it, here's the article from the Nation.
A headteacher committed suicide and scores of others were roughed up by irate parents protesting against poor results in last year’s KCPE examination.
One school head was badly injured, another was dragged out of his office and warned never to set foot in the school.
Six others were locked out of their offices by angry parents as the new school term started.
In a number of schools across the country, headteachers just went into hiding, fearing attacks from parents after their schools performed poorly, raising serious questions about the safety of teachers and school administrators.
Police in Narok County confirmed that the headteacher of Kalyet Primary School in Mulot Division, Mr Geoffrey Kiplang’at Sigei, had taken his life after the school’s results were cancelled by the Kenya National Examinations Council over irregularities.
Mr Sigei’s body was found by relatives in a tea plantation in Bureti District on Tuesday.
Before he committed suicide, the headteacher had gone into hiding after learning that all his 38 candidates had failed to obtain their results since their English and Kiswahili scores were cancelled, said Bureti police boss Smollets Munyianzi.
He initially sought refuge at a relative’s home and then said he was going to visit a friend on New Year’s day, never to be seen alive again, according to the police boss.
The family started looking for the teacher from the time he left the relative’s home until Tuesday, when his brother, Mr Joseph Sigei, reported the matter to Litein Police Station.
“His wife called relatives wondering why the teacher was not communicating to them. It was then that the family started searching for the teacher, only for his mother to find his body in the tea bushes,” said Mr Munyianzi.
The body was taken to Kapkatet District Hospital mortuary for a postmortem examination.
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