KNEC KCSE English Paper 2 – 2015 – Machakos County Trial
2015 KCSE Machakos County Trial
English Paper 2
1. COMPREHENSION (20 Marks)
Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow;
1.
Education is perhaps one of the greatest assets children can inherit from their parents. Indeed, parents are known to incur huge debts to help their children get education. The drive to make these sacrifices and our population growth, have created a huge demand for education.
This demand is reciprocated by mismatched supply that is not focused on developing “employable” skills and the output is more jobless graduates into the already full market place. Ironically, whereas this is the scenario in emerging economies the world over, it is in the same economies that skilled workers are in high demand, according to a human capital study done by PWC. Indeed , emerging economies are no longer relying on cheap labour to fuel exports- driven economies , but rather fouls on skilled labour because their economic models have shifted to exporting value – added goods. The demand for workers capable of doing talent intensive jobs that require quality qualifications is growing steadily. Studies have shown that no country in the world can achieve major socio – economic transformation without the contribution of skilled manpower. Kenya seems to be cognizant of this fact going by the massive budget allocation made in education each year.
There is a strong case for standardization and regulatory framework that will ensure delivery of high quality teaching and research whose end product are work- ready students. This is therefore a call to the government and the private sector to work hard in glove to address the prevailing challenges in higher education that impact the quality of graduates produced.
Lack of adequate resources, poor training infrastructure and facilities as well as an emphasis on “cramming” – reproduction of class notes in the exam papers compromise the quality of education. The result has been a yawning gap between the quality of students released into the job market and the needs of the employers.
If we are able to turn our institutions of higher learning into factories of talent that is readily marketable locally and to other countries, human capital development would become a key economic driver in our country. The Government needs to partner with all stakeholders and come up with “out of the box”, holistic policy interventions that make use of best practices in order to promote practical skills and make education more effective in the short and long term. This also calls for accrediting and streamlining the requirements of new and existing education should look beyond profits and priorities equipping of students with knowledge , skills and competencies that enhance their employability both locally and internationally. While Kenya boasts of high literacy levels, it should now priorities the development and implementation of a long – term growth strategy that focuses on quality, not quantity.
QUESTIONS
a) What has created a huge demand for education according to the passage? (2 marks)
7. “(Sighing, the inkeeper hands him some money). Good. Now the formalities are disposed of.” What turns out to be ironic about this statement? (3 marks)
