No Armed Officers at Primary and Junior School Centres: KNEC Chooses a Calm, Conducive Assessment Season
KNEC says security personnel will not be deployed to KPSEA and KJSEA centres, except in a few areas with security challenges.
Parents of Grade 6 and Grade 9 learners can expect a calmer atmosphere at assessment centres this year. The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) will not deploy security personnel to Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) and Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) centres.
The announcement came on Monday, 5th October, at the launch of the 2026 National Examinations and Assessments season. KNEC Chief Executive Officer David Njengere said officers will be engaged only where it is absolutely necessary, so that the assessments are administered in a normal and conducive environment for candidates.
A Deliberate Choice for Young Candidates
KPSEA candidates are Grade 6 learners, and KJSEA candidates are Grade 9 learners. They are children who are still in basic education and are being assessed under the Competency Based Curriculum.
KNEC’s message is that an assessment should feel like part of school life, not like a high-stakes confrontation.
The security role has not disappeared entirely. Njengere explained that officers will be involved only in distributing examination materials to centres, and in returning candidates’ answer sheets and scripts to the containers.
Even this will be limited to the few areas that have security challenges. Elsewhere, the process will run on the professionalism of teachers and the trained officers appointed to manage it.
KCSE Remains Different
The approach for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is different. During KCSE, there will be at least two security officers at every examination centre.
The distinction reflects the different stakes and the different candidates. KCSE is the final secondary school examination and carries high-stakes consequences for university and college placement.
KPSEA and KJSEA are assessments of younger learners within the competency-based system. KNEC is calibrating its security posture to each.
The Numbers Behind the Season
The scale of the exercise is large. “The Council will administer assessments and examination to a total of 3,634,846 candidates between 16th October and 20th November 2026,” Njengere said.
To make that possible, KNEC will engage 342,005 contracted professionals to facilitate the conduct and management of field administration.
That workforce includes centre managers, supervisors, invigilators and other officers. More than 3.6 million candidates in a little over five weeks means thousands of centres, thousands of deliveries from containers and a very large number of scripts to be handled and secured. It is also why the briefing and deployment processes matter so much.
El Niño and the Whole-of-Government Approach
Security was not the only operational concern raised at the launch. Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba addressed the weather, noting that the government is aware of the coming El Niño rains and has mechanisms in place to deal with the challenges they may pose.
“As we are all aware, the weatherman has warned us of impending El Nino rains. We must, therefore, put in place all appropriate measures to avert disruptions to the examination and assessment processes on account of the heavy rains anticipated,” he said.
Ogamba said the challenge will be met through a Whole-of-Government approach involving all relevant stakeholders.
Field officers from the relevant ministries and agencies will be on standby to provide any support required, so that processes run seamlessly and no candidate is unnecessarily disadvantaged.
Floods, impassable roads and damaged bridges can hinder the movement of examination materials and the safe transport of candidates and scripts. Standby officers are expected to help with exactly those problems.
Exam Invigilators and Markers: A Question of Welfare
The launch also addressed the delayed payment of exam invigilators and script markers. Basic Education Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa acknowledged the role these professionals play.
“The Ministry of Education recognizes the indispensable role that examiners play in ensuring the quality and credibility of the assessment process and remains committed to enhancing their working conditions,” he said. He cited rising financial demands in administering and scoring national examinations, along with growing candidate numbers each year, and said the Ministry will continue to prioritize the welfare of all contracted professionals.
For the many teachers who serve as invigilators and markers, this will be a statement to watch against actual payment timelines.
A Warning on Malpractice and Artificial Intelligence
Ololtuaa also urged vigilance and integrity. “As officers entrusted with the administration of National Examinations and Assessments, we must remain vigilant and uphold the highest standards of professionalism, ensuring that all forms of malpractice, including those facilitated by Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies, are effectively prevented,” he said.
With security officers largely absent from KPSEA and KJSEA centres, the integrity of these assessments rests heavily on the people running them.
The PS said that through collective efforts, the credibility, validity, reliability and public trust in the examinations can be preserved.
What Teachers Should Do Next
For teachers, the next step is practical. TSC has concluded its CP2 deployment, and briefings by KNEC will begin next week. Teachers have been advised to log in to the KNEC CP2 portal and download their deployment letters.
Each letter shows the school where the teacher has been deployed and the assigned role, such as invigilator, supervisor or centre manager.
KNEC has drawn up guidelines for the briefing sessions, including the areas teachers should be sensitized on.
The sessions begin with centre managers and supervisors. Centre managers are the headteachers and principals of schools that are examination or assessment centres.
What the Briefings Will Cover
According to the briefing notes, the sessions aim to share information on innovations and emerging issues in five areas:
- Daily management and conduct of examinations and assessments.
- The new format of shading the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) forms. Teachers should pay particular attention here, since a change in shading format can affect how candidates’ responses are captured.
- Recruitment, deployment and responsibilities of field officers.
- Quality assurance during national examinations and assessments.
- Security of examinations and assessments, which will matter all the more given the lighter security presence at KPSEA and KJSEA centres.
Teachers should attend with their deployment letters and questions, and take the briefings seriously. With few or no security officers on site, staff will have to handle the security of the materials themselves.
The TSC Circular: Who Can Do What
TSC, working with KNEC, has issued a circular guiding how this year’s examinations and assessments are to be administered. Several of its provisions affect teachers directly.
Candidates who are touch readers. Under clause 3.10, centres with blind candidates who read by touch must have at least one invigilator who is conversant with braille. This keeps the assessment accessible to every learner.
Hosted and hosting centres. Under clause 3.11, both hosted and hosting centres must have their own centre managers. The hosting centre’s manager will, however, collect and return examination materials from the containers. This gives one clear point of responsibility for material handling.
Qualifications for supervisors and invigilators. Clause 3.12 sets out the requirements for each category:
KCSE: Supervisors must be serving secondary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC, with at least a Diploma in Education, and preferably senior teachers or heads of department. Invigilators must be serving primary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC, with at least three years of teaching experience.
KJSEA: Supervisors must be serving secondary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC with a minimum of a Diploma in Education. Serving primary or junior school teachers with at least three years of experience may also qualify. Either way, supervisors must have supervised national examinations and assessments before. Invigilators must be serving primary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC with at least three years of experience.
KPSEA: Supervisors must be serving primary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC, with at least three years of experience and prior invigilation of national examinations and assessments. Invigilators must be serving primary or junior school teachers employed by or registered with TSC with at least three years of experience.
The common thread is experience. Most roles require three years of teaching, and supervisory roles often require prior exposure to national examinations. Since security officers will mostly be absent from KPSEA and KJSEA centres, KNEC is leaning on experienced teachers to keep the process secure.
Weekly rotation of KCSE supervisors. Under clause 3.13, KCSE supervisors will be rotated weekly. The outgoing supervisor must prepare brief handing-over notes for the incoming one, which keeps continuity and accountability across the weeks.
Oral and practical papers. Under clause 3.14, only supervisors are required at the examination centre during KCSE oral and practical papers.
Recruitment challenges. Under clause 3.15, sub-counties that struggle with recruitment should write to si@knec.ac.ke giving the reason, and assistance will be provided. This is a practical safety valve for areas with too few eligible teachers.
Trust at the Centre of It All
KNEC’s decision to keep security officers out of most KPSEA and KJSEA centres is a statement of trust in teachers, school leaders and the systems around them. It also carries responsibility.
Without officers on site, the conduct of each centre depends on how well its managers, supervisors and invigilators do their work.
The coming weeks will test this approach on several fronts: the weather, the movement of materials to remote centres, the new OMR shading format, the threat of technology-assisted cheating and the welfare of the contracted professionals who make it all happen.
If the government’s Whole-of-Government approach holds, teachers are well briefed and payments are handled promptly, KNEC may show that calm, child-friendly assessments and credible results can go together.
For now, the message to teachers is simple: download your deployment letter, attend your briefing and prepare to run a fair, secure and stress-free assessment for Kenya’s children.