The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) has recommended a radical change to the way the Kenya National Examinations Council(KNEC) grades learners.
The panel, which submitted its report to President William Ruto on Tuesday, recommended that KNEC drops the current grading system for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education(KCSE).
The team recommends that KNEC's computation of the KCSE mean score be based on Mathematics, English or Kiswahili, and 5 other best-performed subjects.
Currently, the grading system for KCSE considers 7 subjects including English and Kiswahili, Mathematics, 2 Science subjects and 2 other subjects.
According to the team, the computation disadvantages some learners whose best-performing subject is not considered if not within the cluster.
''It is worth noting that both English and Kiswahili measure the literacy level of a learner, while Mathematics and any Science subject evaluate the numeracy aspects of the learner,'' the panel said.
''It is worth noting that both English and Kiswahili measure the literacy level of a learner, while Mathematics and any Science subject evaluate the numeracy aspects of the learner.''
The sweeping proposal will see students who do not do well in English still qualify for lucrative courses including Medicine, Law and Engineering.
The courses currently require higher grades in English without regard to performance in Kiswahili.
The move will also see learners who score well in Kiswahili proceed to study education at the university level despite failing in English.
Over the recent past, universities had raised the cluster points for some courses including education with those seeking to study education required to have at least a C(Plain) in English.
However, under the fresh proposals, universities will consider either English or Kiswahili whole KNEC will also not consider both subjects will computing mean grades.
''The examinations are high stake assessments with consequences to the learners based on their performance,'' the committee noted.
The situation, the PWPER noted, has encouraged unhealthy competition for limited slots in the subsequent levels of education.
''Learners who fail to obtain quality grades in the examinations often drop out of school, leading to a high wastage of a youthful population,'' the report reads in part.