More teachers are responding to an invitation by the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) for marking of this years national exams.

Many are applying for the marking exercise, downloading and printing their invitation letters.

In October Knec through a circular invited primary and secondary school teachers who were trained to serve as examiners for marking of this years KCPE and KCSE exams.

The Examiners were required to apply online for the marking exercise. KCPE Examiners were required to apply online from 16^th October, 2023 while KCSE Examiners started from 1^st November, 2023.

They were asked to use the link https://examinersapp.knec.ac.ke and log in using their username and password to access the application portal.

Those who had forgotten their passwords were asked to click on reset password button and enter their mobile numbers in the format (2547********) and submit to receive a new password for logging into the system.

“Upon successful login, complete their personal information and save. Using the dashboard provided, access, download, print and read the invitation letters and the Marking Instructions,” instructed Knec.

Knec will give further details on travelling of examiners to various marking centres in Nairobi.

At least 1,415,315 candidates sat for the KCPE exams while a total of 1,282,574 candidates sat for their KPSEA assessments.

The KCPE and KPSEA exams began on October 30, 2023, and were completed on November 1, 2023.

KCPE candidates did Mathematics, English, English Composition, Kiswahili, Kiswahili Insha, Science and Social Studies.

The marking of the Insha and Composition papers will be done manually by examiners.

However the marking of multiple-choice questions (transcripts) will be done by the modern Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) which electronically scores the papers.

The OMR captures marked data from candidates’ answer sheets using specialised scanning. 

The machines work with a dedicated scanning device that shines a beam of light on the paper.

The contrasting reflection at predetermined positions on a page is used to detect marked areas as they reflect less light than the blank areas of the paper.

With the new machines, scripts are marked in batches of 100 and 200 sheets, unlike the previous technology, which took hours.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang on Wednesday said the marking of the KCPE and KPSEA exam papers will start immediately.

He said KCPE results will be out before Christmas. In a statement, Kipsang also said that the Grade 6 learners who sat for their KPSEA exams will get their results which will be ready same time as KCPE.

However the PS said they will give more priority to the marking and releasing results for the KCPE candidates to allow early preparation for transition to Form 1 next year.

“Because of the work that is pending, our children have to report to school in January, we will have to prioritise KCPE,” said PS Kipsang.

He added that the parents will also be appraised on the schools their children will be admitted to before Christmas festivities.

“As we move to secondary schools, we have slightly less than 11,000 centers, So in terms of deployment, it might be better than what we experienced in primary schools,” noted the PS.

While making his remarks, Kipsang stated that the government will pull out all stops to ensure that the exam papers are marked and released within the stipulated timeframe.

He added that during the marking, there will be two shifts to ensure that the process is smooth and goes according to plan.

More teachers are responding to an invitation by the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) for marking of this years national exams.

Many are applying for the marking exercise, downloading and printing their invitation letters.

In October Knec through a circular invited primary and secondary school teachers who were trained to serve as examiners for marking of this years KCPE and KCSE exams.

The Examiners were required to apply online for the marking exercise. KCPE Examiners were required to apply online from 16^th October, 2023 while KCSE Examiners started from 1^st November, 2023.

They were asked to use the link https://examinersapp.knec.ac.ke and log in using their username and password to access the application portal.

Those who had forgotten their passwords were asked to click on reset password button and enter their mobile numbers in the format (2547********) and submit to receive a new password for logging into the system.

“Upon successful login, complete their personal information and save. Using the dashboard provided, access, download, print and read the invitation letters and the Marking Instructions,” instructed Knec.

Knec will give further details on travelling of examiners to various marking centres in Nairobi.

At least 1,415,315 candidates sat for the KCPE exams while a total of 1,282,574 candidates sat for their KPSEA assessments.

The KCPE and KPSEA exams began on October 30, 2023, and were completed on November 1, 2023.

KCPE candidates did Mathematics, English, English Composition, Kiswahili, Kiswahili Insha, Science and Social Studies.

The marking of the Insha and Composition papers will be done manually by examiners.

However the marking of multiple-choice questions (transcripts) will be done by the modern Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) which electronically scores the papers.

The OMR captures marked data from candidates’ answer sheets using specialised scanning. 

The machines work with a dedicated scanning device that shines a beam of light on the paper.

The contrasting reflection at predetermined positions on a page is used to detect marked areas as they reflect less light than the blank areas of the paper.

With the new machines, scripts are marked in batches of 100 and 200 sheets, unlike the previous technology, which took hours.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang on Wednesday said the marking of the KCPE and KPSEA exam papers will start immediately.

He said KCPE results will be out before Christmas. In a statement, Kipsang also said that the Grade 6 learners who sat for their KPSEA exams will get their results which will be ready same time as KCPE.

However the PS said they will give more priority to the marking and releasing results for the KCPE candidates to allow early preparation for transition to Form 1 next year.

“Because of the work that is pending, our children have to report to school in January, we will have to prioritise KCPE,” said PS Kipsang.

He added that the parents will also be appraised on the schools their children will be admitted to before Christmas festivities.

“As we move to secondary schools, we have slightly less than 11,000 centers, So in terms of deployment, it might be better than what we experienced in primary schools,” noted the PS.

While making his remarks, Kipsang stated that the government will pull out all stops to ensure that the exam papers are marked and released within the stipulated timeframe.

He added that during the marking, there will be two shifts to ensure that the process is smooth and goes according to plan.