The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has issued final guidelines to centre managers in charge of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA).
Centre managers are heads of institutions (HOIs) i.e principals and headteachers who are usually assisted by their deputies who take part as assistant centre managers.
The directive comes after Knec unveiled the 2025 exam invigilators, supervisors, centre managers, security personnel and drivers.
According to Knec a total of 24,213 centre managers have been assigned to centres that will have both KPSEA and KJSEA.
Additionally a total of 26,479 supervisors and 125,492 invigilators will administer the 2025 KPSEA and KJSEA.
A total of 1,298,089 candidates have been registered for the KPSEA while a total of 1,130,669 candidates are registered to sit for KJSEA.
On KCSE, Knec CEO David Njengere said the exams will have 10,765 centre managers, 12,126 supervisors and 54,782 invigilators.
A total of 996,078 candidates have been registered for this years KCSE examination.
The exams and assessments which start on 21st October will be manned by a total of 22,247 security officers and 2,692 drivers will be used to transport it to and from the exam centres.
However Knec says the KPSEA and KJSEA will not have security officers engaged during administration.
It says the officers will be engaged only where it is absolutely necessary, in order to ensure that these assessments are administered in a normal and conducive environment for the candidates.
In this regard, the security officers will only be engaged in the distribution of examination materials to examination centres and return of candidates answer sheets and scripts to the container in few areas that have security challenges.
However, during KCSE examination, there will be at least two security officers in every examination centre.
Knec dispatched assessment and examination materials and security padlocks to Sub County headquarters from 30th September to 4th October as part of preparations.
In the new directive targeting centre managers, Knec wants them to download and print key documents for use during the administration of the 2025 assessments and examinations.
“The following documents will be uploaded onto the KNEC website and schools portal for access by the centre managers to download and print for their use during administration of the 2025 assessments and examinations,” read the statement by Knec.
The documents listed for centre managers to download and print for use during exam period are;
1) Letter to candidate
2) Use of mobile phones and handling of question papers/OMR sheets for absent candidates
3) Return of materials envelope cover
4) Sample KPSEA and KJSEA OMR sheets
5) Report on type of calculators for KJSEA and KCSE
6) Timetables
The centre managers already collected project materials for subjects with a project component.
The teachers also attended Knec briefing and sensitization sessions in their sub counties where they learnt new rules and guidelines for this years exams and assessments.
| S/No | Examination | Rehearsal Date | Start Date | End Date |
| 1.2.1 | Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) | 17th October, 2025 | 21st October 2025 | 21st November 2025 |
| 1.2.2 | Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) | 24th October, 2025 | 27th October, 2025 | 3rd November, 2025 |
| 1.2.3 | Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) | 24th October, 2025 | 27th October, 2025 | 29th October, 2025 |
| 1.2.4 | Kenya Pre-Vocational Leaners Education Assessment (KPLEA) | 24th October, 2025 | 27th October, 2025 | 30th October, 2025 |
| 1.2.5 | Kenya Intermediate learners Education Assessment (KILEA) | 25th October, 2025 | 28th October, 2025 | 30th October, 2025 |
The registration of candidates for the 2025 KPSEA, KJSEA and KCSE examination was undertaken from 29th January to 28th March 2025.