Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has warned officials administering the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations against opening them before the official time.
While he said the tests had not been leaked, he warned that a few officials may attempt to access the contents of the papers done in the late morning and in the afternoon ahead of schedule.
The examination started this morning with candidates writing the mathematics paper at 8.30am. Prof Magoha warned that head teachers who function as examination centre managers will be held responsible for any breach of integrity as the materials will be in their custody.
“The exams have not been tampered with. I want to urge my officers in the field to focus on the integrity of the second paper. There is a group of teachers whom we’re watching, who want to confuse our children,” the CS warned.
He was speaking at the Kakamega Central Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) container where he supervised its opening at 6.10am.
Prof Magoha instructed security officers accompanying centre managers to and from collection points to personally carry them while in transit and hand them over to the managers at school.
He explained that if there is “a problem, we know that it is the centre manager who has interfered with the integrity. But we are talking about 0.001 per cent of centre managers”.
He said he will decide whether to open containers used to store the materials at 6am, as has been the norm, or push it to 6.30am to reduce the time officials have the papers before the tests start.
Knec CEO David Njeng’ere concurred with the CS that second-session papers are usually the ones that are exposed ahead of the official time.
“If everybody applied the regulations the way we have advised them to, we would have a very credible examination administration. It’s only the deputy county commissioners and sub-county directors of education who have keys to the containers,” he said at the Lang’ata DCC’s office in Nairobi County.
The examinations are being administered as some areas, especially in the Rift Valley and Upper Eastern regions, have been hit by insecurity that has displaced some families.
“The government has taken precautions, especially in Baringo, where we have challenges. We’re ensuring that children are converged in safe areas where they (can) stay and be fed and do the exams before they are dispatched to their respective homes,” Prof Magoga said, adding that the candidates are accommodated “in a few” schools, including secondary schools.
He repeated his warning that political activities will not be allowed in schools during the examination period.
The mathematics paper was followed by English Section A (language) while the candidates will write the composition part in the afternoon.
On Tuesday, they will start with science in the morning, Kiswahili Lugha in the late morning and Kiswahili insha in the afternoon. They will complete the tests on Wednesday when they take social studies and religious education in the morning.
