Teachers Set for KNEC Briefings as TSC Completes CP2 Deployment for 2026 National Exams
Centre managers and supervisors will be the first to be sensitised, with the briefings starting next week.
Teachers picked to run this year’s national examinations and assessments will start attending a four day briefing session organised by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) next week.
This follows the Teachers Service Commission’s (TSC) conclusion of deployment on KNEC’s CP2 system.
Download your deployment letter
TSC officials have advised teachers to log in to the KNEC CP2 portal (cp2.knec.ac.ke) and download their deployment letters.
Each letter shows the school where the teacher has been posted and the role assigned, whether centre manager, supervisor or invigilator.
The letters matter beyond the briefing. The circular requires all centre managers, supervisors and invigilators to print their appointment letters and carry them every day, together with their national ID cards, and to wear identification badges. Teachers should download and print theirs now rather than on the eve of the exams.
Who is briefed first
The sessions will begin with centre managers and supervisors. Centre managers are the headteachers and principals of institutions that are examination or assessment centres. They are the officers accountable for the materials and the centre’s conduct throughout the exam period.
The calendar
TSC Circular No. 17/2026, dated 14 September 2026, was issued jointly with KNEC’s plans. It sets out the schedule for the October/November period:
| Examination | Rehearsal | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| KCSE | 16 Oct | 19 Oct | 20 Nov |
| KJSEA | 23 Oct | 26 Oct | 30 Oct |
| KPLEA | 23 Oct | 26 Oct | 29 Oct |
| KPSEA | 23 Oct | 26 Oct | 28 Oct |
| KILEA | 23 Oct | 26 Oct | 29 Oct |
With the KCSE rehearsal falling on 16 October, the briefings come at a tight but deliberate point in the countdown.
What the briefings will cover
KNEC has set out the objectives of the sessions, which are to share new innovations and emerging issues on:
- Daily management and conduct of examinations and assessments
- The new format of shading Optical Mark Reader (OMR) forms
- Recruitment, deployment and responsibilities of field officers
- Quality assurance during national examinations and assessments
- Security of examinations and assessments
Shading OMR forms the right way
KPSEA and KJSEA candidates will answer multiple-choice questions on OMR sheets. The guidance says candidates should shade the ellipses and not strike through them.
KNEC has put sample OMR sheets on the CBA Grade 6 portal, under instructions and sample papers, so candidates can practise.
Supervisors will also be expected to verify OMR forms and scripts, arrange them in order and pack them in return polybags according to the set ranges of assessment or index numbers.
Daily management and accountability
Expect detailed guidance on the day-to-day routine, including:
Opening of materials: Packets are opened five minutes before the start time on the timetable.
Container collection: KPSEA and KJSEA materials are collected once each morning. KCSE materials are collected twice a day. Containers open at 6:00 a.m. for KPSEA and KJSEA, and at 7:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. for the KCSE morning and afternoon sessions respectively.
Box identification: Boxes are labelled with the date and session, and the correct boxes must be identified before opening. Colour-coded straps and polybags distinguish KPSEA, KJSEA and KCSE materials.
Online attendance: Centre managers must take daily attendance on CP2 from the rehearsal day. The registers are printed at the end of each exam period, signed by all officers, and stamped by the centre manager and the Sub County Director of Education (SCDE).
Script Control Forms: KCSE and KJSEA candidates sign the form for every paper, and every return polybag must carry one. Absentees are marked “AB” in red. The forms must not be stamped by the centre manager or carry any school details.
Counterfoils: These must stay attached to scripts until the paper’s time has elapsed. Detaching them early is an examination irregularity.
Absent candidates: Their question papers are sealed and stapled in the packet and placed on a desk in full view of candidates during the session.
Who may be in the centre, and who may not
Authorised persons are limited to the centre manager, one official deputy principal, supervisors, security officers, invigilators, a gatekeeper, a reasonable number of cooks, and science and technical teachers or laboratory assistants on the day before and the day of a practical.
Directors, BOM chairs and members, bursars and accounts clerks, secretaries, unauthorised teachers and groundsmen are all barred while exams are in progress.
The centre manager must prepare a weekly list of authorised persons with names, ID numbers, TSC numbers, telephone numbers and roles, and have it endorsed by the SCDE before the rehearsal day.
Practicals under tight control
The circular limits centres to a maximum of two practical sessions per paper. Teachers of science subjects with a practical element may be in the centre only on the day before and the day of the practical.
Other preparation is restricted to weekends and the hours after 5 p.m. once the day’s exams have ended. Only the chemistry teacher collects practical data for transmission to KNEC, about 30 minutes before the session ends. Biology and Physics teachers should not carry out the practical.
Phones and electronic devices
All mobile phones and electronic devices, including those of security officers and teachers preparing laboratories, are kept locked outside the exam room under a security officer’s watch.
The supervisor holds the key. Nobody may enter an exam room with a phone while a paper is in progress.
Invigilators are to stand at the back of the room, mathematical tables must be checked for cleanliness, and candidates must be checked for unauthorised materials.
Quality assurance and security
KNEC monitoring officers can go straight to examination rooms without first reporting to the head’s office. School gates must remain open from 6:00 a.m. until the day’s exam materials leave the centre.
Centre managers must endorse monitoring questionnaires by signing and stamping them. Officers from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) will also monitor security officers during KCSE.
On security, every KCSE centre will have two security officers, and KCSE centre managers must be escorted from the container to the school and back. KJSEA and KPSEA centre managers will not be escorted unless the area is declared insecure.
Whistle-blowers can write to KNEC (anonymously if they wish), call 0800721410 or 0800724900, use the numbers 0798060000 and 0798060010, use KNEC’s social media channels, or visit KNEC offices in person. Complaints about security officers go to IPOA on the toll-free line 1559.
Who qualifies for each role
The TSC circular is firm on who can be deployed. Teachers must be qualified, employed or registered by TSC, and “of high integrity and not easily compromised.”
KCSE
- Supervisors: Serving secondary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC, with at least a Diploma in Education. Senior teachers or heads of department are preferred.
- Invigilators: Serving primary school teachers employed by or registered with TSC, with at least three years’ teaching experience.
KJSEA
- Supervisors: Serving secondary school teachers with at least a Diploma in Education, or serving primary or junior school teachers with three or more years’ experience. All must have supervised national examinations or assessments before.
- Invigilators: Serving primary school teachers with at least three years’ experience.
KPSEA
- Supervisors: Serving primary school teachers with at least three years’ experience who have previously invigilated national examinations or assessments.
- Invigilators: Serving primary or junior school teachers with at least three years’ experience.
Staffing ratios
- One supervisor for every 200 candidates, and none for hosted centres.
- One invigilator for every 20 candidates, with hosted centres staffed according to the candidature of the hosting centre.
- A centre with both KJSEA and KPSEA candidates gets one supervisor for both if the combined candidature is under 200. Each assessment still has its own rooms and invigilators.
- For KILEA and KPLEA, teachers invigilate their own learners, with one invigilator per ten learners for KILEA and per five for KPLEA. No supervisor or centre manager is deployed to these centres.
Integrity safeguards
The circular builds in several checks against conflicts of interest and malpractice:
No home-school postings: No supervisor or invigilator may be deployed to a school where they have served in the last three years. CP2 has been configured to enforce this.
Declaration of interest: Supervisors, invigilators and centre managers must declare any interest in their centre. KNEC will email the declaration form to Sub County Directors, who will share it with centre managers. Anyone confirmed to have an interest will be redeployed. Signed forms are returned with the centre manager’s report and the CP2 attendance register.
Weekly KCSE rotation: KCSE supervisors rotate weekly. Each outgoing supervisor must prepare a report for their week and brief handover notes for the incoming supervisor before moving to the new station.
Oral and practical papers: During KCSE oral and practical papers, only supervisors are required at the centres.
Special arrangements
Candidates who are touch readers (blind): Centres with such candidates should have at least one invigilator who is conversant with Braille.
Hosted and hosting centres: Both must have their own centre managers, though the hosting centre manager collects and returns materials from the containers.
Hardship cases: Centre managers must report hospitalised candidates outside their sub-county by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the paper. These candidates must not be declared absent. The venue where they sat the paper is recorded on the Script Control Form and in the certificate of supervision, and the case is captured on CP2.
Recruitment challenges: Sub-counties struggling to recruit enough qualified personnel should write to si@knec.ac.ke stating the reason, and KNEC will provide assistance.
What teachers should do now
- Log in to cp2.knec.ac.ke and download your deployment letter.
- Check your school and role, and confirm the details and your workstation on CP2.
- Declare any interest in your posted centre honestly and early.
- Prepare to attend the briefing for your role, with centre managers and supervisors going first.
- Keep your letter, ID and badge ready for daily use during the exams.
