Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has assured that security officials are closely monitoring Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams, which kicked off Monday morning, to curb any interference.
He said the KCPE exams had kicked off in full gear and all preparations had been put in place to protect the integrity of the exams and avert cases of cheating during the tests.
The start of the KCPE exams marks the end of the end of the academic year of 2021.
The CS said tight security measures had been put in place to ensure KCPE candidates in the bandit prone regions of Baringo, West Pokot, Samburu and Laikipia sit the exams in a secure environment.
Speaking in Kakamega, Prof Magoha said the examinations materials had been transported to the centres without hitch and warned that security officials were on high alert to dealing with cases of reported interference and cheating.
“The first paper is reasonably set because there was no time for interference. I’m asking my officials in the field who are monitoring the exams to focus on the integrity of the second paper as they walk into the exam centres,” said Prof Magoha.
The 2021 KCPE will be administered between March 7 and March 9, 2022 while the KCSE examination, which commenced on February 28, will end on April 1, 2022.
The Kenya National Examinations Council has registered a total of 1,225,507 candidates in 28,316 KCPE examination centres as compared to 1,191,752 candidates in 28,467 centres in 2020.
This year, a total of 831,015 students will sit for their crucial exam in 10,413 centres across the country, compared to the 752,981 students in 10,437 centres in who sat the exam in 2020.
According to directives from the Education Ministry, only Deputy County Commissioners (DCCs) and Assistant County Commissioners (ACCs) will be involved in the daily opening and closing of the containers in their respective Sub Counties.
All examinations must be transported using government vehicles and in the presence of at least one police officer.
Centre managers will work with police officers to ensure no content of any examination paper is exposed to any candidate before the scheduled start of individual examinations.
