State to conduct special KCPE exam in January 2024
At least 9,354 candidates who missed the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination will sit a special test in January, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has announced.
Speaking during the release of the 2023 KCPE results in Nairobi on Thursday, Mr Machogu said the Ministry of Education will conduct a thorough mapping of all candidates who may have missed their examinations this year in order to conduct a special examination in January 2024.
"To ensure that no candidate from the final 2023 KCPE examination cohort misses out on Form One, the Ministry of Education will be conducting a thorough mapping of all those who may have failed to sit the examination with a view to giving them a special examination in January 2024. The indicative figure we have at the moment is 9,354 candidates," he said.
This year's KCPE was the last of its kind as the curtains came down on the 8-4-4 curriculum after 38 years. Some 1,406,559 candidates sat the exams in 28,533 centres.
"The fact that the 2023 KCPE examination cohort was the last under the 8-4-4, the government has emphasised its 100 percent transition policy from primary to secondary school. We are all aware that any candidate who fails to make the transition to Form One will not have the opportunity to repeat a class as was the case in the past," he said.
The CS further clarified that learners who were in Class Eight sat the 2023 examination even in cases where they were not registered.
"As a result, 205 candidates who were not registered for this year's KCPE took advantage of the registration waiver to sit the exams. They are among those whose results we are releasing today and they will have the opportunity to join Form One," he said.
"I wish to assure the country that the government has enough capacity to accommodate all the 1,406,557 candidates who sat the KCPE examination in 2023," he said.
