The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) will train primary school teachers for marking of the upcoming Grade six national assessment tests.
The teachers will be trained on how to administer, mark and award scores for the over one million learners.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) trained 200,000 teachers to handle the grade 6 learners early this year.
However Knec will train the teachers specifically on how to administer and mark the assessment tests.
Knec usually train teachers to become examiners who are then paid when involved in marking of national exams. Teachers pay for the training from their pockets.
Already the Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha said the exams have been printed and are ready for administering later this year.
Registration for the Grade 6 exams together with KCPE and KCSE will start tomorrow and will end on 14th May according to a circular by Knec.
Magoha has warned school heads against charging parents for registration of Grade 6, KCPE and KCSE exams.
He said sh 5 billion has been set aside by the government this year for managing those examinations.
“The government has set aside Sh5 billion for this exercise. I want to warn teachers failure to register a student, for whatever reason, is a criminal offence. Further, no one should demand any money to register the students,” Magoha said.
According to Knec chair John Onsati, Grade 6 exams will be done in November and December this year.
“We want to inform Teachers Service Commission (TSC) that KNEC will be administering the Kenya Primary Education Assessment Grade 6 summative assessment at the end of the year,” said Dr Onsati on Saturday during the release of the KCSE 2021 results.
The new exam called Kenya Primary Education Assessment (KPEA), which will be administered under the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC), will replace the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).
Unlike in the 8-4-4 system, in this assessment there are no multiple choices.
The assessments at the end of Grades 3, 4, and 5 are each worth 20 points and will add up to a total of 60 points at the end of Grade 5.
Learners will sit for KPEA at the end of Grade 6 which be marked out of 40 marks, adding up to a total of 100 marks in primary school.
This implies that assessments in each grade count in the pupil’s final score, unlike the 8-4-4 system where pupils were graded only after sitting for KCPE exams.
Grade six learners will transition to junior secondary at Grade 7 in January next year after sitting their final assessment test.