RELEASE INVIGILATORS AND SUPERVISORS, THEY ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR NATIONAL EXAMINATION IRREGULARITIES!!!
For years on end, Kenyan teachers have been treated with contempt by their employer, Teachers Service Commission.
What is even more enraging is the fact that the Kenya National Examinations Council has also jumped the bandwagon.
KNEC has forgotten that without the teachers volunteering to invigilate the ongoing KCPE and KCSE examinations, no national exams will go on.
LOW PAYMENT
KNEC needs to be reminded that the teachers work for the Kenyan child, not KNEC.
It is about assessment, Kenyan teachers are well trained to assess candidates with or without KCPE and KCSE national exams.
There is no way KNEC can continue subjecting teachers to torture, anxiety and low payment.
What disgusts me most is the pompous headlines which feature in the mainstream media whenever there is something to do with teachers’ salaries or payment.
Such headlines include “Teachers Reap Big in New Salary Deal” or “Teachers to Get Highly Paid for Overseeing the KCPE and KCSE Exams.”
The media should stop misleading the public.
KNEC’s pay does not commensurate the sacrifice teachers make to ensure that the national exams go on smoothly.
Centre managers, for instance, have to wake up as early as 4.00 A.M. to collect the exams. They still have to man the exams at their various centres and escort them back to the container to ensure that they are safe.
Supervisors, on the other hand, have to do all the paperwork and ensure that everything is in order. Besides, they have to report to their work stations as early as 7.00 A.M. to receive the examination.
Invigilators, on the other hand, have to sit for at least 2 hours in the classroom to ensure that no cheating takes place.
They are not allowed to carry any gadgets within an examination centre.
Phones are confiscated immediately they report to their work stations.
Honestly speaking, this is a great sacrifice on the part of the teachers.
This is why I am advocating for teachers’ rights. Supervising, and invigilating a national exam does not have to put the teacher’s job on the line!
Why does the TSC and KNEC derive pleasure from sacking or suspending teachers whenever an examination malpractice takes place in an examination centre.
IMPERSONATION
Impersonation, for instance, is a malpractice that only the centre manager can be aware of.
The invigilators and supervisors cannot shoulder the blame since they do not interact with the candidates before rehearsal.
Besides, some imposters have registered themselves as private candidates so there is no way you can tell whether they are impersonating candidates since even the passports match them perfectly.
I am thus appealing to KNEC and TSC to reconsider some of the penalties imposed on invigilators and supervisors.
#Teachers are human beings, not robots.
