Distribution of the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) and the Kenya Intermediate Level Education Assessment (KILEA) went down without much hitches on Monday, October 28, 2024, as more than 1.3 million primary students began their exams.

Launching the distribution exercise in Nairobi, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba observed that the process had been smooth.

In Lang’ata West, Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang supervised the distribution of the exams.

Interior Ministry

In a statement on Monday, October 28, 2024, the Ministry of Interior indicated that sufficient officers had been deployed to safeguard the students and staff taking part in the examinations.

“Adequate resources and personnel have been deployed to ensure the safety of the KPSEA, KILEA, and KCSE exams as well as the candidates and staff,” the Ministry said on X.

A total of over 1.3 million primary school learners in 35,573 examination centres will take part in the KPSEA exams while another 965,501 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) candidates in 10,755 centres are sitting for the exams.

During the entire period of the examinations, a total of 246,151 field officers including including 103,125 for KCSE and 143,026 for KPSEA will be deployed.

The officers will include drivers, security personnel, invigilators, supervisors and centre managers. Additionally, some 32,480 examiners will be contracted to mark the papers between November and December 2024.

Exam security preparedness

For the first time in the exam history, supervisors and invigilators will be rotated from one exam centre to the next to curb instances of irregularity stemming from familiarisation with the environment.

On Tuesday, October 28, 2024, KPSEA learners will begin their exams at 8: 30 am with the Integrated Science paper which will end at 10: 10 am, taking one hour and 20 minutes for the regular students.

Thereafter, the learners will embark on a 30-minute break before returning to the examination rooms for the Kiswahili paper from 11: 10 am to 12: 10 pm.

Day three which will be on October 30, 2024, will see the students sit their last paper beginning from 8:30 am with the Creative Arts &Social Studies paper which will end at 10:10 am for regular students while the same paper will take 2 hours and 10 minutes for the visually impaired.

However, for KILEA exams, Monday saw the learners assessed on Communication, Social and Literary Skills, while on Tuesday, October 29, they will sit for the Daily Living Skills and Religious Education paper.

Wednesday will be the Sensory Motor Integration and Creative Activities paper while Thursday will be the Numeracy, Environmental and Psychomotor Activities paper.