Hundreds of candidates in far-flung areas of the restive North Rift were forced to sit their Standard Eight and Grade Six examinations at night due to the late arrival of the papers owing to impassable roads. In some other areas, candidates for either the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) or the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) examinations had to be relocated to nearby schools after roads leading to their institutions became impassable.

In Samburu County for instance, candidates at Anderi and Kurungu Primary School in Samburu North sub county started writing their KCPE and KPSEA examination at 3pm on Monday and finished the last paper at around 10pm. A bus ferrying the papers got stuck in a river in Nyiro division early in the morning and a second vehicle, brought in by the sub-county education officer, a land cruiser could not reach the school either after it reached another flooded river. Pupils from the two schools, who had been moved to Nyiro Girls Secondary School from where they wrote their exams, sat for their first paper, Mathematics at 3.15pm, second paper, English at 6.50pm and Composition at around 8.40pm.

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Headteachers Peter Lesilla (Anderi) and John Mong’are (Karungu) told reporters that they were forced to improvise torches and lanterns for the candidates to use while undertaking the last two papers. Later on Monday night, the sub county Director of Education Husein Gufu, directed the two headteachers of Anderi and Kurungu Primary to relocate their pupils to South Horr Primary for the next two days from where they are to sit their examinations. Anderi Primary is 17km to South Horr Primary while Kurungu Primary is 8km away. Parents complained that despite the candidates being relocated to a centre that is kilometres away from their schools, the authorities had not made any arrangements from accommodation, food and other basic necessities for the candidates.

In Tot, which is on the border of Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo counties, there was a slight delay after a local bridge was flooded as a result of a heavy downpour. KDF, Police presence A spot check by People Daily established that security was stepped up in the region with Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and the Kenya Police maintaining their presence at Kapindasum Primary School in Baringo South which had come under attack from armed criminals last week. Rift Valley Regional Coordinator Abdi Hassan said additional security personnel had been deployed to Kerio Valley, Baringo South and Baringo South, which have in the recent past experienced the new wave of attacks which has left many people scores dead. “We want to assure our parents that everything is under control. We have dispatched enough security personnel to ensure that all learners sit their exams without any hitches,” said the administrator.

Hassan said normalcy has been restored in Kapindasum. During the incident, more than 227 Grade Six and Class Eight learners were revising in their respective classes when their school came under attack. The learners lay on floors for over six hours during the daring attack as security personnel engaged armed bandits who had surrounded the school. However, Kapindasum Primary School headteacher Elijah Kiptoon said no ugly incident has been reported. “We are hopeful that no incident will be reported during the examination period.

Despite the security challenges we remain optimistic that our learners will do well,” said Kiptoon. School reopened “The learners were beginning to pick up the pieces after their school was reopened after many years of closure but last week’s incident traumatized them a lot,” added Kiptoon. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki was yesterday hold up in a security meeting with top security officials from Baringo and Rift Valley at Loruk in Baringo County. Kapindasum Primary School is among many other schools which were reopened early this year following a directive by President William Ruto. This is the second time the school has come under attack with armed bandits firing into the school last week sending learners and teachers into a panic. In Nandi East, Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Leonard Mgute disclosed that five candidates had failed to turn up for the KCPE) that kicked off on Monday. Confirming the incident, Mgute noted that the parents of the five candidates had relocated from Nandi to various parts of the country. He said they had began investigations to determine why the candidates could not turn up for their KCPE exams.

“On Monday, we recorded five absenteeism cases in Nandi Hills Township Primary School in the KCPE category. Upon preliminary investigation, we found out that their parents had relocated from Nandi; however, we are yet to conduct further investigation to determine why the candidates could not turn up for their national examinations,” explained DCC Mgute. He also noted that three KCPE candidates who were forced to write their papers from the Nandi Hills Sub County Hospital after being admitted.

The administrator further noted that they had experienced challenges while transporting examinations to various centres due to impassable roads as a result of heavy rains that were experienced on Sunday evening. “We experienced a challenge in transporting examination papers to various centers in the interior of Nandi East Sub County. The roads were rendered impassable due to heavy rains experienced on Sunday evening.

We delivered the papers late, resulting in the late commencement. Going forward, we have resolved to start transporting the remaining papers early enough to ensure candidates start writing them as per the stipulated time,” he said. According to the DCC, Nandi East subcounty has a total of 106 KCPE centres with a total of 4,248 candidates comprising 2,173 boys and 2,075 girls, whereas in the KPSEA category there are 107 centers with a total of 3,526 candidates comprising 1,835 boys and 1,691 girls. In addition, five private candidates are sitting for KCPE at the Nandi Hills Township Primary, of which two are men and three are women.

Teachers have been banned from being members of social media sites which have been flagged for being used to peddle fake examination materials.

It will no longer be business as usual for teachers to join some 33 WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, and X– formerly Twitter– groups during this examination period.

The Kenya National Examinations Council CEO Dr David Njeng’ere has assured the country of the security of KPSEA and KCPE examinations scheduled to kick off next week Monday.

Njeng’ere said the government was well prepared to ensure the exams are delivered without hitches despite the anticipated El Nino rains and isolated cases of insecurity in some parts of the country.

“We want to assure the country that the examinations are secure in all the 32, 000 centres for KPSEA and 28, 000 centres for KCPE across the country,” Njeng’ere said.

He addressed the press when he led a team of officials in monitoring the examinations’ preparations at Athi River Primary School in Mavoko, Machakos County on Friday.

Njeng’ere said there were 576 KNEC examination containers across the country.

1, 282, 574 candidates, according to KNEC, will be sitting for Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) examinations while 1, 415, 315 are expected to sit for KCPE and 903, 260 others KCSE.

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“We are here at Athi River Primary School now monitoring preparations for the conduct of KPSEA and KCPE across the country. Every school is doing what you have seen us doing here. It’s a time for the supervisors and invigilators to meet with the candidates so that they can explain to them their expectations,” Njeng’ere explained.

He said he was joined by both Athi River Sub County Directors of Education and TSC alongside representatives from the Ministry of Interior among other officials since the examinations’ admission will be conducted by a multi-agency.

“We want to assure our candidates that there is nobody who has access to any of those papers. Anybody lying to you that they can give you the papers before the day of exams, those are fraudsters,” Njeng’ere said.

Njeng’ere said there was nobody who had access to the examination papers and advised the candidates to do their work, revise and present themselves for the examinations as expected.

“KNEC is fair and it will make sure that you get the results that you all deserve,” he said.

He said the monitoring of examinations exercise was ongoing in all the centres nationwide.

“There is absolutely nothing to worry about, everything is in place. KNEC has put contingency measures in place in case there will be El – Nino rains or enhanced rains. We are prepared across the country to ensure there will be no disruption to the administration of the exams,” Njeng’ere said.

Njeng’ere said the government had been administering national examinations through a multi-agency including ministries of Education, Interior and ICT since 2016.

“The strategies we have put in place are adequate to ensure that even if there would be El – Nino or enhanced rains in any part of this country, we will make sure that the exams are delivered and conducted as scheduled,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Interior will ensure that not even a single child misses exams due to security issues.

The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has declared that the portal for 2023 candidates’ registration will be opened on February, 1,2023.

This comes a week after the ministry of Education adjusted the 2023 primary and secondary school academic calendar.

“The 2023 KCPE/KCSE candidates’ registration starts on February 1, 2023. Registration will end on March 30, 2023. On the KNEC website, access the circular on registration by clicking on the Circulars & Guidelines icon,” read the notification from KNEC.

On January, 24, the Ministry of Education adjusted the 2023 school calendar, a move that will school opening dates closing dates and the national exam dates.

According to a circular signed by Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang, the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) exams will now start October 30 and end on November 2, 2023.

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The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams will start November 3 and end November 24. The initial calendar showed KCSE would take place from November 10 to December 1.

Learners will now break for half-term from March 16 to March 19, and later close school for the long holiday on April 22, 2023. Initially, students were to break on March 23 and resume on March 26.

On May 8, learners will resume school for the 14-week long Term Two, with a half-term break set to begin on June 29 and end July 2. Later, schools will close for two weeks from August 12 up to August 27.

After the two-week holiday, students will resume for a Term Three from August 28, which is the shortest term in the school calendar.

Thus, there will be no break in this term, which will run up to October 27.

The KCPE and KPSEA exams thereafter will take four days while the KCSE examination period will last three weeks.

“KCSE marking will begin on November 27 to December 15,” the circular reads.