Ensure El Niño rains don’t disrupt exams

By Yabesh Onwonga

The El Niño rains are approaching, and the country is preparing for flooding. In all this, there is one group that cannot afford government complacency: schoolchildren.

For candidates preparing for national examinations, flooding can mean impassable roads, submerged classrooms, destroyed books, displaced families, interrupted revision and anxiety when young people need stability most.

This is where the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) must become practical. It cannot afford a last-minute scramble when examination papers are already moving, and rivers are rising. Every flood-prone examination centre should be identified now. Alternative centres should be mapped, inspected and approved before the emergency arrives.

Every vulnerable centre needs a Plan B, Plan C and, where necessary, Plan D. If a road is regularly cut off by heavy rains, officials already know that. If a bridge becomes impassable, that should not be a surprise. If a school is repeatedly affected by floods, the risk is already documented.

Knec and education officials should conduct an immediate disaster-readiness audit of examination centres in vulnerable counties. Alternative venues must be identified, transport arrangements secured, communication chains tested, and examination officials told where candidates will go if their centres become inaccessible.

County governments cannot hide behind the argument that examinations are a national government responsibility. They should publish flood-risk maps for schools, clear drainage around vulnerable institutions, identify emergency transport routes and establish evacuation and communication plans. Where bridges are known to become impassable, they should arrange temporary alternatives before the rains peak.

The Ministry of Education must also stop treating disaster preparedness as a document that gathers dust in an office. A policy is worthless if a child sitting in a flooded classroom cannot benefit from it.

Schools need emergency stocks of learning materials. Floods can destroy textbooks, desks, computers and examination-preparation resources within hours. In repeatedly affected areas, the government should pre-position replacement materials and identify temporary learning spaces.

Digital learning can enable learners to continue carrying out revision when classrooms become inaccessible. But telling poor children to “go online” is not a disaster plan in communities where electricity, smartphones, data and reliable connectivity are luxuries. The response must include printed materials, radio, community learning points and other low-cost alternatives.

Most importantly, parents and candidates must not be kept in the dark. Nothing creates panic faster than silence. Knec and education officials should establish reliable channels for communicating changes to examination centres, transport arrangements and emergency procedures.

We cannot stop the rain. We can, however, stop poor preparedness from multiplying the damage. We have experienced floods before. We know the roads that disappear, the bridges that overflow and the schools that become islands. We know which communities suffer first.

A national examination must measure a candidate’s preparation, not the government’s preparedness. The countdown has begun. This time, Kenya should prepare before the water rises, not after it reaches the classroom door.

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