3.3 CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (313)

The year 2017 KCSE Christian Religious Education syllabus was examined in two papers.

Paper 1 (313/1) examined the Old Testament and Traditional African Religious Heritage.

Paper 2 (313/2) tested aspects of the syllabus in the New Testament and Contemporary Christian Living Each of the papers had a total of six essay structured type questions and candidates were expected to answer five questions.

3.3.1 GENERAL CANDIDATES' PERFORMANCE

The Table below shows candidates performance in the KCSE Christian Religious Education examination for the last four years.

Table 10 Candidates Overall Performance in CRE for the Last Four Years

The following observations can be made from the Table above.

1. The candidature has increased from 441,355 in 2016 to 473,936 in 2017.
2. The performance of the candidates has dropped significantly. This is attested by the mean of 76.13 in 2017 as compared to 93.88 in 2016.
3. The standard deviation of the combined papers also dropped from 37.72 in 2016 to 26.60.

This report will address areas in which candidates perfomed poorly. It provides the expected responses and advices teachers on how to help candidates improve performance in CRE Examination.

The Chief Examiners' reports in both papers are the main reference with respect to the general performance of the candidates in the subject.

3.3.2 CRE Paper 1 (313/1)

According to the Chief Examiner's report the paper tested the syllabus adequately. There were no questions that were considered too easy. The paper was appropriate because it was able to discriminate clearly between the candidates in terms of their performance, specifically those who fall in the distinction, credit and pass categories.

The Chief Examiner reported that the general performance was below average. This was attributed to weaknesses in tacking questions that required high order thinking skills. It is possible that candidates fail to apply high order thinking due to rote learning. The questions which proved difficult to most candidates include 2c, 3b, 5b and 6c.

The following is a discussion of these questions.

Question 2(c).

Give six lessons Christian learn from the incident in which the Israelites broke the Covenant at Mount Sinai (6 marks)

Candidates were expected to give lessons that Christians learn from the incident in which the Israelites broke the covenant at Mount Sinai.

Weaknesses

Learners were giving the attribute of God or what Christian learn about God.

Expected Responses

1. Christians acknowledge that God is more powerful than other gods/idols.
2. Christians should be patient.
3. Christians should be merciful/show mercy to others
4. Leaders should take their roles seriously should be responsible.
5. Christians learn that disobedience can result into suffering punishment.
6. They learn that they should worship God alone
7. Christians should condemn evil.
8. They should exercise self-control
9. Christians should repent/ask for forgiveness/forgive others.
10. Christian leaders should intercede for the people.

Advice to Teachers

Teachers should explain to leamers how to respond to questions on lessons learnt.

Question 3 (b)

Explain the significance of David as an ancestor of Jesus to Christians today. (8 marks)

Candidates were expected explain how David as an ancestor of Jesus is relevant to Christians today.

Weaknesses

Candidates were not able to connect the story of David to Jesus and how Christians have benefitted from it.

Expected Responses

1. The promises that God made to King David pointed to the mission of Jesus in the world to save sinners.
2. Through Jesus a descendant of David, Christians are blessed/protected/have peace.
3. Through David. Jesus came to establish a spiritual kingdom/the church.
4. David recognized the divinity of Jesus as Lord/Saviour who Christians also recognize as Lord saviour.
5. David as an ancestor of Jesus established proper worship of God in Israel which has been emulated by Christians.
6. David the ancestor of Jesus made preparations to build a temple for God which has been realized in the modern day places of Worship built by Christians.
7. Through David Christians have been promised a place to settle in heaven.

Advice to Teachers

Teachers should teach the connection between David and Jesus to Christians today.

Question 5(b)

Explain the circumstances that led the Israclites to be taken to exile in Babylon during the time of Prophet Jeremiah. (7 mks)

Candidates were expected to explain different factors which led the Israelites to be taken to exile in Babylon during the time of Jeremiah.

Weaknesses

Candidates demonstrated inadequate content mastery.

Expected Responses

1. The Israelites had forsaken the covenant way of life.
2. They had forsaken the religion of their forefathers/worshipped idols.
3. Israelites had persecuted/rejected the prophets of Yahweh.
4. They ignored the message of the true prophets.
5. Their rulers were weak/did nothing to return the Israelites to the covenant way of life.
6. Nebuchadnezzar had defeated the Egyptians/made it easy for his army to match north.
7. Their King surrendered leading to their deportation to Babylon as exiles.
8. There were intermarriages with foreigners.
9. There were false prophets/priests who spoke lies/failed to speak the truth.
10. The Israelites did not repent their sins as warned by Prophet Jeremiah

Question 3(b)

Give six reasons why Jesus used bread and wine during the last supper. (6 marks)

Candidates were to give the purpose of using bread and wine during the last supper.

Weaknesses

Candidates wrote the significance of bread and wine.

Expected Responses

These are some of the expected responses:

1. Jesus used bread because it was a common meal for the Jews.
2. He used bread because unleavened bread was used during the Jewish celebration of the Passover.
3. He used wine because it was a common drink for the Jews.
4. Jesus explained that the bread represented his body which would be broken for forgiveness of sin.
5. He used wine to represent his blood that was to be shed for the scaling of the new covenant
6. He used the bread to demonstrate that he is the bread of life/the lamb of sacrifice Jesus shared bread and wine as a sign of fellowship/unity/a preparation for the messianic banquet.
7. Jesus used the bread and wine to initiate the new covenant.
8. He used bread and wine to institutionalize/demonstrate how the disciples would practice the ritual in future.

Advice to Teachers

Teachers need to encourage students to attend church services and be involved in church activities.

Question 6(b)

Give six reasons why the church in Kenya is opposed to cloning. (6 marks)

Candidates were to give reasons why the church is against cloning.

Weaknesses

Many candidates did not understand the word cloning. Others confused it with plastic surgery.

Expected Responses

1. Cloning is like taking the role of God in creation.
2. It distracts the role of human beings as co-creator with God/makes them procreators
3. It dehumanizes reproduction/destroys individual uniqueness.
4. It leads to unethical/immoral experiments such as destruction of embryos
5. Cloning leads to the inheritance of undesirable characteristics.
6. It gives human beings the right to destroy life since they are the ones who have created it.

GENERAL COMMENTS

The candidature of CRE has increased compared to previous years. The overall performance of the subject has dropped.

The following need to be re-emphasized and adhered to in order to realize the improvement of performance in the subject:

• The Bible has to be used always during teaching and learning of CRE.
• Students have to study CRE with contextual questions in mind to avoid lack of content and hence discourage memorisation.
• Teachers need to remind candidates to use the recommended text books during teaching, learning and revision.
• There should be in servicing of CRE teachers for them to be trained on content delivery and examinations techniques.
• Teachers should expose students to high level cognitive skills. These include analysis. evaluation and synthesis
• Teachers to focus on specific objectives that are found in the syllabus.