At last, there is academic life after Grade E

George Magoha

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha when he released the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education results at Mitihani House in Nairobi on May 10, 2021.

Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • We lose a lot of talented and smart Kenyans by rejecting E students for failing the KCSE examinations.
  • Until recently, it was believed that E students could not scale academic heights to PhD level as they were considered not smart.

Failing the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination is considered the end of the academic journey for thousands of students, particularly those who scored grade E.

The social ridicule and shaming aside, it is often a terminal point for Kenyan youth who are thrust into a cold world without any skills or higher education certificates, snuffing out their dreams of ever earning undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Because we are a society engineered to believe only students with a C+ and above can be successful and get very surprised when E students and ‘D materials’ make it in life, we lose a lot of talented and smart Kenyans by rejecting them for failing the KCSE examinations.

This is about to change. For E students who would like to pursue higher education, the government has now made it possible to pursue artisan courses through the Kenya Colleges and Universities Placement Service (KUCCPS).

This new directive not only affords E students the opportunity to gain important skills critical for their survival, it also gives them the chance pursue higher education from certificate to doctorate level. This means that an ‘E’ grade will no longer be the end of a student’s academic journey. It will be the chance to reset and start afresh and the opportunity to control the direction of their academic and professional lives.

This will be the second chance at life that many dejected students will be looking for and I am confident that we are going see a new crop of talented, passionate and knowledgeable Kenyans resulting from this new move.

Seize the chance 

However, this programme will only work if the students seize the opportunity to develop their skills and advance their education. Until recently, it was believed that E students could not scale academic heights to PhD level as they were considered not smart or academically talented enough. 

For those who harbour such dreams, this your chance to go as far as you would like in your academic life. In fact, I daresay, this is your chance to prove your naysayers wrong. So, seize this opportunity for whatever it is worth and make the best of whatever lies ahead. The world is your oyster.

Beyond this wonderful development, potential employers for these individuals must adjust their standards to accommodate students who scored E grade in KCSE. While scoring an ‘A’ grade says a lot about an individual’s capabilities, those who scored an E grade must neither be shunned nor dismissed. They should be given an opportunity to prove themselves. They just might surprise you.

Of course, we would not be having this conversation if as society we did not place such a high premium on the elusive ‘above C+’ standard. 

We must reconstruct the path to success to accommodate even those we do not consider academically gifted. Every Kenyan deserves a fair chance at a successful and comfortable life regardless of their KCSE grade. An E grade should not be the end of a young life.

The writer is the Director, Innovation Centre, at Aga Khan University; [email protected]