Meria
Elder Lister
Those of my age went to old school. We did CPE in primary school and not KCPE where the best performer got 36 points. We had three exam papers with each scoring a maximum of 12 points. It was rare getting 36 points. Anybody with 27pts and above was regarded a genius and these were the people who were admitted to government school where there were trained teachers employed by the government. Getting a place in any government school was harder than getting a place in the now popular Wings to Fly scholarship. At times children from poor homes would be cheated out of their places by either a richer neighbour buying the poor pupil out or simply hiding his/ her calling letter.
under the auspices of the churches many community school , called Harambee schools, were built. Although these schools did not have qualified teachers they somehow served the purpose. They were more affordable and accessible given that they were well spread throughout the region. Some bright students opted to attend these schools rather than the expensive government schools. Learning in harambee ( they lacked important learning facilities like libraries and laboratories) schools did not prevent bright students from moving up the ladder. I know of many who attended those schools and moved up to universities and are now PHD holders. These schools also offered students from poor homes an opportunity to go into the job market early enough by giving an examination in form two, Kenya Junior Secondary Examination (KJSE). Those who passed this examination(, whose grading was from A to C were passes, while D and E were failures) were legible to go to nursing colleges, teacher colleges or be employed as clerical officers.
In secondary school we did East Africa Certificate of Secondary Education ( EACSE) where we were examined on eight subjects. 'Tough' students were allowed to do nine. Our grade was determined by six subjects, which compulsorily included Mathematics, a science, and English. The other three would come from best three performed from the remaining five. Our grading was not in terms of As and Es but in terms of points. The best score was 1 and the worst was 9 which was a fail. 8 and 7 were weak passes. 6, 5, 4, 3 were credits, while 2 and 1 were distinction. It was rare getting somebody who scored aggregate of 6, i.e getting distinction 1 in all subjects graded. Those who got 12pts and bellow were geniuses .You were awarded Division One if your points fell between 22 and 6, and have at least a pass 7 in Mathematics. Division Two , if score fell between 32 and 23, inclusive, or you got lower than that but failed in Mathematics ( and there many in this category, tusimcheke Sonko!). Division Three started from 33 to 43. There after you got Division Four, a very weak pass, and fail where you never got a certificate. Division three qualified you to get clerical jobs and go for certificate courses. Division four became drop-outs or could get jobs as UTs or recruited into the forces if they were lucky
Division One and Two could go to A level. How good and what A level school depended on how you had done in your subject combination. In A level classes were exclusively science or arts. If you scored distinctions in your three arts subjects that made a combination then you were called to join a good Arts class in a good school Same thing applied to those taking sciences.In A level the grading was in terms of As and Es. You got principal if your score was graded as A, B, C. D and E. Score O meant you got a subsidiary, just a pass. F meant fail. We used to have three (four for tough ones) main examination subjects and a general paper whose maximum score was a subsidiary. Minimum requirement for you to qualify for university was two principals and two subsidiaries, although various faculties had minimum points to be admitted....
under the auspices of the churches many community school , called Harambee schools, were built. Although these schools did not have qualified teachers they somehow served the purpose. They were more affordable and accessible given that they were well spread throughout the region. Some bright students opted to attend these schools rather than the expensive government schools. Learning in harambee ( they lacked important learning facilities like libraries and laboratories) schools did not prevent bright students from moving up the ladder. I know of many who attended those schools and moved up to universities and are now PHD holders. These schools also offered students from poor homes an opportunity to go into the job market early enough by giving an examination in form two, Kenya Junior Secondary Examination (KJSE). Those who passed this examination(, whose grading was from A to C were passes, while D and E were failures) were legible to go to nursing colleges, teacher colleges or be employed as clerical officers.
In secondary school we did East Africa Certificate of Secondary Education ( EACSE) where we were examined on eight subjects. 'Tough' students were allowed to do nine. Our grade was determined by six subjects, which compulsorily included Mathematics, a science, and English. The other three would come from best three performed from the remaining five. Our grading was not in terms of As and Es but in terms of points. The best score was 1 and the worst was 9 which was a fail. 8 and 7 were weak passes. 6, 5, 4, 3 were credits, while 2 and 1 were distinction. It was rare getting somebody who scored aggregate of 6, i.e getting distinction 1 in all subjects graded. Those who got 12pts and bellow were geniuses .You were awarded Division One if your points fell between 22 and 6, and have at least a pass 7 in Mathematics. Division Two , if score fell between 32 and 23, inclusive, or you got lower than that but failed in Mathematics ( and there many in this category, tusimcheke Sonko!). Division Three started from 33 to 43. There after you got Division Four, a very weak pass, and fail where you never got a certificate. Division three qualified you to get clerical jobs and go for certificate courses. Division four became drop-outs or could get jobs as UTs or recruited into the forces if they were lucky
Division One and Two could go to A level. How good and what A level school depended on how you had done in your subject combination. In A level classes were exclusively science or arts. If you scored distinctions in your three arts subjects that made a combination then you were called to join a good Arts class in a good school Same thing applied to those taking sciences.In A level the grading was in terms of As and Es. You got principal if your score was graded as A, B, C. D and E. Score O meant you got a subsidiary, just a pass. F meant fail. We used to have three (four for tough ones) main examination subjects and a general paper whose maximum score was a subsidiary. Minimum requirement for you to qualify for university was two principals and two subsidiaries, although various faculties had minimum points to be admitted....
