Take action or keep burying the children.

Why we are shocked that children are committing suicide over poor examination results defeats reason? When we have made the perceived success or failure in life a matter of life and death with the exam results, it is illogical to express surprise that the youth are taking this homily so seriously. Parents all over the country insist that only good grades should be obtained by their scions; anything less and the lives of their children will not amount to much. They would be better off in the ground than on earth, taking up valuable breathing space that is best enjoyed by the ones capable of surmounting the hurdles erected by the Kenya National Examinations Council. Or, they should 'repeat', take the examination as many times as would enable them to score respectable marks and therefore, earn a place in the pantheon of academic greats that have gone on to lead rich and rewarding lives.

Many parents across the country have taken to heart the claim that their children's teachers are to blame for their poor showing in the exams and have thus decided to take matters into their own hands, sometimes attacking the teachers or agitating for their transfer to other schools. Some respected members of society have decided to join the blame-the-teacher bandwagon, explaining that parents are surely justified in blaming teachers and school heads for the failure of the children, and the poor showing of schools in the, now unpublished, school rankings. To date, no parent has taken it upon himself or herself to question whether their parent styles are also to blame for the fact that their beloved children did poorly.

It is a tragic indictment of our education system that so much store is set by the results of the KCPE or KCSE to the total exclusion of all else. In a nation where a white-collar job is the be all and end all of life, a good exam score is a guarantee of a comfortable life. However, the sad fact is that regardless of the number of pupils who score well in the KCPE, or the number of successful KCSE candidates, or the legions of young people who graduate from our universities with undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, the policies of this government, and those that have gone before, there are fewer and fewer white-collar job openings on offer. It is almost certain that even if the bulk of our children were to achieve academic perfection, the comfortable life they have been promised will remain but a mirage, unreachable and untouchable.

The state of education is interlinked to the state of the economy and the state of national politics. One can no more separate these issues than one could separate breathing from air. If we are to make the best of a situation that seems guaranteed to continue in mediocrity, at best, or failure, as is certain, we must admit that there is much to be done and grave decisions to be made. At a local level, parents must be empowered, lawfully, to participate fully in the academic lives of their children, ensuring that school heads perform at their optimum and teachers are motivated to bring out all the talents of the children under their care. The numbers of Kenyans paying taxes to the government must be expanded so that the government can devote more financial resources to the provision of adequate facilities for the education of our children. This means that the economy must be managed in such a manner that more people are gainfully employed and earn enough to supplement the efforts of the government in providing for the education of young Kenyans. Finally, Kenyans must take greater care in choosing the men and women who will make decisions regarding the allocation of resources and the preparation of policies. Decision-making in the education sector by politicians has ensured that more and more Kenyans miss out on a quality education. The recent set-backs in the provision of free primary education to every child in Kenya are a sad reminder that when politicians are in charge we can only be disappointed. Until Kenyans play an active role in the education of their children, the direction of the economy and the selection of political and other leaders, their children will continue to be ill-served by their government and more suicides will be committed.