The Government has set aside Sh4.2 billion to run this year’s national examinations. Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed said so far, Sh3.3 billion had been paid towards exam administration.
The CS said the remaining Sh900 million would be paid by the end of the exams administration process, adding that the ministry had also rolled out an elaborate plan to ensure that candidates in conflict areas were catered for.
Appearing before the National Assembly’s Education committee on Tuesday, Amina said the ministry had mapped out 22 alternative centres where candidates hit by conflict could sit the tests in Nakuru County. Conflict regions She said despite calm returning to conflict regions in Narok County that had led to schools re-opening, 25 centres had been identified where exam candidates could be accommodated if there was another flare-up of conflict. She said all learners, including exam candidates, had been accounted for and the tests would be administered as planned.
On Monday, fresh violence was reported in Narok North. Previously, according to the ministry, 15 schools with 5,791 pupils, including 434 candidates, had been affected by conflict. In Narok South, 27 primary schools with an enrollment of 13,476 students, including 1,087 candidates, were affected. Six secondary schools with 1,183 students, including 198 candidates, also experienced learning disruptions.
In Molo and Njoro, 17 schools were affected by the clashes. Enhance security “There are ongoing consultations with the Ministry of Interior to enhance security to ensure that normalcy returns to the affected areas,” said Amina. She told MPs that the ministry was monitoring the security situation and would take the necessary measures to ensure that examination materials were delivered to the schools and learners’ security was guaranteed. A total of 1.7 million candidates will sit the primary and secondary school examinations this year. Of these, 1,060,703 will sit for their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) tests and 664,585 will write their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) papers. The KCPE exams will be done in 27,161 centres while 10,077 centres will host KCSE candidates. Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) acting CEO Mercy Karogo said 65,107 invigilators and 27,354 supervisors would be deployed to administer the KCPE exams.
There are 54,322 security officers assigned to guard the papers, which will be marked by 5,834 examiners. For KCSE, 37,978 invigilators and 10,078 supervisors will administer the exams. Another 20,156 security officers will guard the papers, which will be marked by 23,713 examiners.