On November 20, 2018, a Kenyan teacher shared a blunt account of what examiners allegedly endure during national examination marking exercises, accusing the system of treating them with little dignity.
The teacher said those involved in marking primary Kiswahili insha and composition had reported “horror stories” from the centres, including sleeping on school pupils’ beds in dormitories and using facilities meant for students. The account also said examiners were forced to queue for meals while holding plates, in conditions described as dehumanizing and degrading.
According to the testimony, the writer had previously served as a KNEC examiner and later rose to team leader status. The teacher compared the responsibility of marking scripts to a surgeon’s work, saying the future of hundreds of thousands of children depends on the decisions made by examiners.
The same account contrasted those conditions with the treatment of delegates during the constitution-making process at the Bomas of Kenya. The teacher said the exercise lasted three months, involved discussion of the WAKO draft, and was supported by accommodation in Nairobi hotels, including Sankara Hotel, which was said to charge Ksh. 22,000 a night. The teacher also claimed delegates received a daily out-of-pocket allowance of Ksh. 15,000 and eventually earned a first million from the exercise.
The writer said the experience of working on the constitution draft, which was eventually defeated, helped trigger a decision to quit marking papers after 14 years as an examiner of Insha Paper 1. The complaint argued that teachers are being humiliated while carrying out national duties, even as senior officials are housed in five-star hotels and paid heavily for what the writer described as optics rather than real work.
In the closing remarks, the teacher questioned why Kenyan professionals are expected to use the same facilities as the people they serve while on official duty, and called on the government to treat teachers as professionals deserving respect and proper working conditions.
The account named TSC chief Nancy Macharia, KNEC boss Magoha, CS Amina Mohammed and other officials as beneficiaries of better treatment during the exercise, while examiners were said to be left in poor conditions.
