The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) national examinations entered their second day on Tuesday, with senior government officials monitoring the exercise.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu revealed that 21 candidates in Nairobi City County are writing their exams while hospitalised. He spoke when he witnessed the opening of the examination container in Kibra Sub-county in the capital.
“Let me repeat, we don’t expect any single malpractice [or] any kind of cheating in this exam that we are doing or in the coming exam that we are starting on November 4,” said Mr Machogu.
At least 60,000 officers have been deployed to boost security during the examinations period.
Teachers and security officers board a boat to return to Kokwa Island in Lake Baringo from Kampi Samaki with exam materials.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
Mr Machogu added that the government has implemented measures to protect both students and exam officials as he expressed his condolences to the families of two General Service Unit police officers who died on Monday in Garissa County when their vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device.
Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang, while overseeing the opening of a container in Ngong Town, said the government is committed to the 100 per cent transition policy to ensure that all students progress to the next level of their education.
Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo, speaking at the Deputy County Commissioner's Office in Westlands, Nairobi, said the government will leverage on technology and digital solutions to enhance the efficiency and transparency of the examination process.
Coast education officials had to seek for assistance from the Kenya National Examination Council to airlift examination papers after Kiambere dam burst its banks, causing flooding in different parts of Tana River County and cutting off Roka, Mbalambala and Boka primary schools.
Security officers push a stalled vehicle during the collection of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment examinations material at Loruk Division, in Baringo County on October 31, 2023.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
“The exams started around 9am. But everything else went smoothly,” said Mr Lucas Chebet, the regional director of education.
Meanwhile, 24 prisoners are sitting the KCPE exam at the Shimo La Tewa Maximum Prison in Mombasa County, while a 15-year-old girl in Kericho County is taking her KPSEA tests from a hospital bed after delivering on Sunday.
In Isiolo, County Commissioner Geoffrey Omoding ordered the arrest of men who defile schoolgirls following reports that six candidates are pregnant while another delivered recently. He said parents will be put to task over failure to report cases of defilement. He also warned parents against taking bribes from sex predators who are seeking to avoid prosecution.
“The government will support those affected so that they transit to secondary schools,” he said. “Administrators have been warned that there will be no out-of-court negotiations for such cases whatsoever,” he added.
Reporting by Kevin Cheruiyot, Mercy Simiyu, Winnie Atieno, John Njoroge, Steve Njuguna, Geoffrey Ondieki, and Waweru Wairimu
