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Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has been challenged to conduct national examinations at different times of the year for effective and efficient management.

A new report of the National Assembly’s Education Committee raises concerns that last year, Knec administered three national exams—the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE)—within a month, thus straining education personnel.

To curb early exposure of exam materials before they are administered, the committee also recommends storage containers be moved closer to exam centres.

The committee also recommends Knec should integrate both formative and summative evaluation scores into the final grades at the conclusion of an educational cycle. This, the MPs said, will reduce the pressure and high expectations associated with exams in future.

Reads the report: “To ensure compliance with national examination administering guidelines, Knec should receive additional funding from the government for the digitalisation of the examination processes and for additional personnel to ensure adequate monitoring, efficiency and effectiveness during the examination management and administration.

“KNEC should immediately ensure strict compliance with the current examination regulations and guidelines by all agencies involved in examination management. This includes TSC, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Interior and National Administration. The council should ensure that the guidelines are regularly updated to mitigate against exam malpractices arising from emerging trends such as technological advancements.”

To deal with exam irregularities, the committee told Knec that starting the 2024/25 examination cycle, it should restrict invigilators, centre managers and supervisors from overseeing examinations in a particular centre for more than two consecutive years to end the compromise in the examination management process.

The recruitment procedure for recruiting clerks, exam managers and examiners should prioritise competent individuals with high levels of integrity adding that there should be a concerted effort to provide training and capacity building opportunities to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

Reads the report: “The National Assembly should increase funding to Knec in the year 2024/25 and subsequent years to adequately finance its activities and operations such as competitive and timely remuneration of examiners, transport of exam materials and personnel, provision of decent accommodation for the examiners at the marking centres.”

Restrict invigilators

To curb examination malpractices in individual schools, the committee recommended that Knec should annually deploy school principals to manage examinations in schools outside their sub-counties while in order to end the compromise in the examination management process, Knec, should restrict invigilators, centre managers and supervisors from overseeing examinations in a particular centre for more than two consecutive years.

To ensure an end to examination malpractices, the MPs want Knec to establish a robust and collaborative multi agency investigative unit, composed of both Knec’s own investigation team and law enforcement personnel, to lead investigations which should focus on setting rigorous standards for gathering admissible

It also wants the Ministry of Education and Knec to come up with a clear policy on examination marking, integrity of markers, award of marks and the moderation process.

To ensure this is successful, the committee has recommended that the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury in consultation with Knec within three months to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the funding needs of the council.

The findings, upon approval, should guide subsequent resource allocation to ensure that funding of examinations management and administration, being a national security issue, is adequately provided.

The cost assessment should cover among other aspects: digitalisation of examinations administration, management of examination centres and materials, remuneration of personnel involved in examination administration among other aspects that require resources for implementation.