3.5m candidates to sit tests as Knec assures on security of materials
By Irene.Githinji, October 11, 2023
At least 3.5 million candidates will sit three national examinations this year.
Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) will be administered between October 30 and November 24.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) Chief Executive David Njengere says they will use 576 distribution centres or containers for storage of KPSEA and KCPE exams and 567 containers for KCSE. The Council acquired an additional 82 containers due to 13 newly created sub-counties, which did not have containers installed as well as 67 containers to be installed due to mapping of examination centres.
“To enhance security of the examination processes, no unauthorised persons will be allowed in any examination centre,” he said.
The security officers expected to ensure that no other persons are at the examination centre other than centre managers, Deputy Principal-whose role is to maintain discipline but should not be allowed to interact with candidates during the examinations, supervisors, invigilators and laboratory technicians and science teachers only during practicals as well as authorised support staff to prepare meals for candidates and supervision personnel.
No secretaries, bursars or teachers will be allowed in the school compound during examinations, apart from laboratory technicians and the science subject teachers of the practical only during the time of preparation and the conduct as indicated in the time table.
According to Knec, some exam centres allow teachers on duty to be in the centre during examination but this should only be after all the materials have been picked and taken back to the container.
Security officers will be required to ensure that examination materials are kept in the examination room and should not be taken into the centre manager’s office or the supervisors room at any given time.
Centre managers will be required to prepare a list of all support staff on duty and this must be done before the start of the examination period.
To ensure that all centre managers, supervisors, invigilators and other supporting officers are properly briefed, the council will be undertaking a briefing and sensitisation across the country on the new rules, guidelines, the mapping of the distribution centres and other developments that will be in this year’s national exam.