The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) Monday released revised timetables for Class Eight and Form Four national tests even as it warned against cheating.
Knec communicated the schedules for the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams moments after the Education ministry announced the revised school calendar.
KCPE candidates will start their tests on March 22 and end on March 24, 2021, while their KCSE counterparts will write their exams from March 26.
Class Eight candidates will sit for mathematics, English grammar and composition on the first day, science, Kiswahili Lugha and Kiswahili Insha on the second day and social and religious studies on the third day.
Form Four candidates will start their oral examinations for French, German, Arabic and Kenya sign language on March 12. Practicals for home science will commence earlier on March 11.
Rehearsals will be on March 25 for Form Fours while written exams for the others subjects will run from March 26 to April 21.
She also warned candidates against accessing exam materials whether orally or in writing beforehand, stating, this will attract a jail term of 10 years or a Sh2 million fine.
Candidates will be searched outside the exam room and expected to be seated at their desks 15 minutes before the exams start.
Candidates will also not be allowed to leave examination rooms before the end of the period allocated to the paper without permission from the supervisor.
“Cell phones or other electronic communication devices are prohibited in examination centres. Any candidate in possession of cell phone or any other electronic communication device will [have] her/his results cancelled,” said Dr Karogo
“The time allowed for each paper is indicated against the name of the paper,” she noted.
Dr Karogo further asked supervisors and invigilators to ensure candidates understand exam instructions and guidelines and adhere to them.
She said they should ensure that candidates are issued with personalised answer sheets that have their correct names and index numbers.
“Teachers are advised to ensure that candidates clearly understand the instructions given and are aware of penalties of examination irregularities or misconduct,” she said.
This year, a total of 1,938,667 candidates will sit the national exams. Of these, 1,187,517 are registered to sit KCPE examinations while 751,150 are KCSE candidates.
The number of those siting the KCPE exam increased by 104,061 from 2019 while those sitting KCSE increased by 53,928.
This year’s examinations were scheduled to start on October 27 but were postponed to next year after this year’s school calendar was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
