The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has urged teachers participating in the KCPE and KCSE marking exercise to take the Covid-19 vaccine jab when they enter Nairobi county for the exercise.
TSC CEO Dr. Nancy Macharia said at Aquinas High School, Nairobi, before the start of KCSE Mathematics Paper 1 exam on Monday.
Macharia said the vaccine will go along way to protect the teachers and others during the exercise.
President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the counties of Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kiambu, and Nakuru “disease infected areas” following the emergence of a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Knec has already issued the transport modalities for teachers who will particiapate in the marking exercise.
A total of 71 examiners from six counties are expected to travel to Nairobi tomorrow for the marking exercise.
The six counties are Taita Taveta, Kwale, Lamu, Mombasa, Kilifi and Tana River.
Each county has been given a Regional Coordinator in charge of the transport modalities.
All county commissioners have also been ordered to provide transport for examiners to travel to Nairobi using school buses to be fueled by KNEC through respective county directors of education.
The last group which comprises of teachers from the counties of Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties will travel to Nairobi on 2nd April 2021.
The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) issued an assurance that the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination, which entered the second day today, will not be interrupted despite the new Covid-19 containment measures.
Knec also said the marking exercise will not get interrupted despite government stringent measures to curb the spread of the Corona virus.
Unlike previous years the Marking exercise for KCPE and KCSE exams will take place in Nairobi county only.
Knec Payment for manning exams
Knec had made public the amount it will pay its Contracted Professionals.
Kuppet had raised complain on amount paid to examiners as well as the marking centres.
The Examiner said for KCPE the Supervisors will be paid Ksh. 2,485while each Invigilator will get Ksh. 1,615 for the four days which include rehearsal day.
Knec said it will pay Ksh 1,050 for Security Officers manning KCPE exams and Ksh. 1,050 for each driver involved in transporting the exams to and from the centre.
For KCSE exams each Supervisor will get Ksh. 12,510 for those in Nairobi and Mombasa counties.
For other counties each Supervisor will earn Ksh. 11,340
KCSE Invigilators in Nairobi and Mombasa counties will earn Ksh. 9860 each while those from other counties will earn Ksh. 7,820
Secondary School principals will get Ksh. 9,000 for the exercise.
KCSE Security Officers involved in KCSE exams will get Ksh 6,720 while the Drivers will take home Ksh. 6,480 for the exercise
However the school Deputy principals are not captured in Knec payment schedule.
Also Knec said it will only pay teachers and officers who registered on Knec Cp2 portal.
KCPE marking exercise
Education CS George Magoha today said the marking of the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams is already at 35 per cent completion.
A total of 1,191,725 candidates in 28,467 schools were registered to sit the exam.
The exams were moved from the traditional October-November period to March-April after lengthy school closures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19
Speaking in Murang’a county as he supervised the opening of examination containers for the ongoing KCSE exams, Magoha said all measures have been put in place to ensure results are released in good time.
Click here to download Knec transport schedule for KCPE examiners in pdf
The KCSE candidates today wrote their Mathematics and Chemistry Paper 1.
Knec said it would issue special passes to Ministry of Education officials to allow smooth monitoring of the exams from the 479 containers where the materials are stored to all the 10,437 exam centres.
On 11th March the Teachers Service Commission CEO, Dr. Nancy Njeri Macharia, participated by taking a Covid-19 jab in a vaccination program rolled out for teachers.
TSC said 44 teachers have so far succumbed to Covid-19 related complications since the outbreak of the virus in March 2020.
TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia made the revelation during the launch of the vaccination drive for teachers.
The drive will prioritise teachers aged 50 and above, Macharia said in Nairobi.
However TSC did not reveal how many teachers fall in that age bracket.
Macharia said both teachers in private and public schools will be considered for vaccination.
Macharia termed the vaccine a major breakthrough to the education sector and emphasized teachers to take part to protect themselves and the learners for quality curriculum delivery.
“Walimu tujikinge na COVID19! Take the Jab for free! Today TSC launched the teachers’ covid -19 vaccination program. While taking the vaccine, the Commission Secretary, Dr Nancy Macharia, called on teachers to take advantage of this exercise,” TSC had said through its facebook handle.
Also present during the drive was Dr. Willis Akhwale who is leading the program and said the program for injecting health workers was already a major success and hoped the same will happen to teachers.
Willis Akhwale who is also the chairman of the Covid-19 taskforce for vaccine deployment asked teachers to turn up for the jab in large numbers and assured them that the vaccine is safe.
“The launch of this vaccine is a clear demonstration that the government is committed to ensure learning continues,” Dr Akhwale had said.
He said the vaccine has undergone phase three clinical trials.
“A vaccine will not be registered if it is not safe,” he said.
Dr Akhwale said the health ministry has established 575 vaccination posts across the counties where all frontline workers will access the vaccine.
He said the ministry has also established the Chanjo Kenya platform where teachers and anyone to be vaccinated can pre-register before going for the vaccination.
However TSC and Knec plan to vaccinate at least 200,000 teachers who will man KCPE and KCSE exams floppedafter a large number of teachers were unwilling to get vaccinated.
President Uhuru suspended physical learning in all learning institutions including universities and other colleges, other than for candidates sitting exams and those in medical training institutions.
KCSE exam is scheduled to end on April 21 and the government will be expected to give guidance on how students will move in and out of zoned areas of Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos, Kajiado and Nakuru counties, if Covid-19 restrictions will still be in force.
The Ministry of Education has assured that it will safeguard security and integrity of the examination process.
“I have directed that, during KCSE examination, we will work with the Ministry of Interior and National Coordination of Government to ensure that we have at least two armed police officers at each examination centre.
One of the armed police officers will be guarding the day’s unopened examination papers while the other will be engaged in routine daily patrol,” Magoha said last week.
Marking of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam, which was concluded last week, is already underway.
The Ministry has said it will ensure the marking is concluded as soon as possible to pave way for Form One selection.
