Nurse calls English test for UK job 'totally embarrassing'

A Kenyan nurse has told the BBC of his "total embarrassment" after failing to pass an English language test that would have helped get to work in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

Only 10 out of 300 Kenyan health workers who applied for the jobs with the NHS passed the exams.

Moses Riyanga Onkenke, a nurse from Kisii in western Kenya, said he speaks English fluently but did not pass because of the way the exam was conducted.

Quote Message: I felt so embarrassed, I lost hope... It was totally embarrassing. There were some factors, one was time, another thing is the pronunciations - especially because it's not an African accent [in the recordings] and sometimes you may not pick some words.

I felt so embarrassed, I lost hope... It was totally embarrassing. There were some factors, one was time, another thing is the pronunciations - especially because it's not an African accent [in the recordings] and sometimes you may not pick some words.

Quote Message: We thought since we are an English-speaking country we we will be exempted from the language exams. Those who passed - some have sat for the exams more than once. I met someone who has done it 14 times, another one has done it six times, another one three times."

We thought since we are an English-speaking country we we will be exempted from the language exams. Those who passed - some have sat for the exams more than once. I met someone who has done it 14 times, another one has done it six times, another one three times."

The English language test cost him $290 (£210) and the certificate given to those who pass expires after two years, he said.

Kenya signed a deal with the UK in July that would allow its unemployed nurses and other medics to work in the UK.

The British government has dismissed reports first made by a Kenyan newspaper that the Kenyan government would receive a slice of the nurses' wages under this scheme. "Under the agreement between the UK and Kenya, nurses will be employed by NHS trusts under individual contracts and their salaries will be paid directly to them," a government spokesperson told Nursing Times.

This article originally appeared in BBC News.

Photo: Getty Images.