Kenya requires students to take cumulative examinations in
order to receive certificates of completion for both primary and secondary
school at the end of 8th grade and at the end of high school. Obtaining these certifications
is critical to the future success of our GPS and WHS students. Achieving a certain KCPE (Kenyan Certificate
of Primary Education) exam score is required for Standard 8 students to gain
admission to secondary school while scores on the KCSE (Kenyan Certificate of
Secondary Education) exam determine university admissions for Form 4
students. For those Form 4 students
unable to continue on to university, obtaining the KCSE can mean the difference
between a decent job or admission to trade school and struggling to make ends meet in the slums.
Despite the importance of the KCPE and KCSE, the fees for
these exams are extremely high compared to typical incomes. The 2014 KCSE exam fee is $85 per student,
while the KCPE is $9.25 per student.
While GPS and WHS parents are expected to contribute as much as they are
able, these fees are simply out of reach for most of our families. Therefore, each year we have a drive to raise
as much as possible toward these exam fees.
Fanuel reports that we have 90 Form 4 candidates for the
2014 KCSE exam and 100 Standard 8 candidates for the KCPE exam. We have $2191 set aside toward the KCSE exam
through our WHS sponsorship program ($3 is set aside per WHS sponsorship per
month toward the fee). We have also had a little over $400.00 donated by sponsors, for a total of $2593.50. This amount will
cover fees for 30 of the 90 graduating seniors. We do not have funds set aside for the KCPE
exam fees, but have collected $58.50 toward those fees.
We need your help in ensuring more students are able to take these important exams. Please consider donating to our exam funds to help our Standard
8 and Form 4 students achieve their dreams!
You can donate to either fund by clicking the “Donate” button to the
right of this post and specifying “KCSE or KCPE fund” in the box marked
“purpose.” Any amount is welcome.
For more information please contact info@plantabook.org.
~submitted by Brooke
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