The new policy on the registration of exam centres will disadvantage learners in the hardship and sparsely populated areas and should be revised, senators have said.

The lawmakers said the policy, which requires a centre to have a minimum of 40 candidates, will force candidates to trek long distances to sit national exams.

The Ministry of Education, through the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec), has announced schools with less than 40 candidates will no longer be registered as KCSE and KCPE examination centres.

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However, the senators said the policy is discriminatory to many learners in hardship and marginalised areas. They demanded answers from Education CS George Magoha on the criteria used to arrive at the policy.

Bomet’s Christopher Langat said the CS should explain to the House, through the Education committee, what was considered before arriving at the minimum number per centre.

“The committee should state whether factors such as distance between homesteads and schools, weather elements, geographical features and cultural activities were considered in developing the criteria,” he said.

Langat wants the CS to give reasons behind the policy and its implications to hardship and marginalised areas that may not raise the required number.

Magoha will also be required to clarify if his ministry engaged stakeholders before coming up with the criteria.

“The committee should outline measures that the ministry will put in place to facilitate the ease of movement of candidates learning in schools that do not meet the threshold.”

Earlier this week, acting Knec CEO Mercy Karogo said centres that do not meet the threshold will be merged during the 2021 exams.

The host schools must be within the same subcounty as the hosted school and should be served by the same exam distribution centre.

“Schools that are more than five kilometres away from the nearest examination centre must seek special approval from the council before August 15, 2021, to conduct an examination in their centres,” the Knec boss said.

During examinations, only host school heads are authorised to collect exam material from the distribution centre and coordinate the return of answer scripts to the container.

Karogo said the directive applies to both public and private schools.

Subcounty directors of education are required to submit the list of host and hosted schools by August 15. The policy, however, does not apply to special interest schools.

The Kenya national examinations council has confirmed that all examiners will meet their costs of travelling to Nairobi for the national marking exercise.

This contradicts the statement KNEC made earlier on that the examiners will be ferried using school buses fueled by KNEC itself.

In a new twist of events, KNEC has directed the deputy county commissioners to liase with the subcounty director of education and the TSC subcounty director of education to organize how the invited examiners will move from the subcounty to the county headquarters and subsequently to the marking centre using the cheapest available means. The directive, signed by Mercy Karogo, the acting KNEC chief executive officer, has informed clearly that each person travelling to the marking centre will meet his or her own travel costs.

The examiners will be expected to collect their travel passes from the county commissioners to facilitate smooth travelling. To be considered for the passes, the examiners will have to present their national identification cards, invitation letters, and the invitation SMS received from KNEC.

click here to contact your county commissioner.

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Once they have received details of all the invited examiners from their counties, the county commissioners will sort them into their respective subject papers and marking venues. They will then negotiate with a transport company, which will release buses or shuttles at a subsidized rate. Each vehicle is expected to carry examiners travelling to the same venue, or marking a common paper. The examiners will be required pay their fare through their county commissioners or TSC sub county directors for faster booking.

The examiners are advised to get a COVID-19 jab before traveling to Nairobi. They are also expected to carry enough masks, preferably disposable masks that will serve them for the entire marking exercise, which lasts at most 15 days.

The markers will start reporting to their respective marking centres from 24^th April 2021.

contact your county commissioner.

The Kenya National Examinations Council, KNEC, has issued a set of revised guidelines on the assessment and deadlines for uploading the KCSE 2020 group IV projects.

According to the acting KNEC CEO Mercy Karogo, all other and guidelines remain intact, despite the revised schedule.

Revised KNEC guidelines for 443/3 (Agriculture)

KNEC has directed that only Milestone 1 will be used to assess the candidates. Additional guidelines are:

• The examination centres whose candidates had been assessed for Milestone 1 and scores uploaded should consider the project completed;
• The examination centres whose candidates been assessed in Milestone 1 but scores not uploaded should proceed to upload the scores with the evidence in the prescribed format by 30th October 2020;
• not been assessed in Milestone 1 but kept the evidence of the individual candidate project were to assess and upload the scores with the evidence in the prescribed format by 30th October 2020;
• The examination centres whose candidates had not been assessed for Milestone 1 and have no evidence for the individual candidate project should redo the project, assess and upload the scores for Milestone 1 with evidence in the prescribed format by 31st January 2021.

Revised KNEC guidelines for 442/1 (Art and Design)

 All scores for the 2 Dimension (2D) Art and Design project were to be uploaded by 31st March 2020. The unexpected school closure hindered most centers from working within the deadlines. The schools that did not upload their scores had until 30th October 2020 to upload them.

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The 3 Dimension (3D), was to be uploaded by 15th July 2020.as per the new guidelines, deadline for uploading the 3D project scores has been extended to 31^st January 2021.

Revised guidelines for 444/2(Woodwork); 445/2(Metalwork); 446/2(Building Construction); 451/3(Computer Studies)

• The examination centres whose candidates had been assessed for Milestone 1 and their scores uploaded should immediately complete the subsequent phases of projects as directed in the table.
• The examination centres whose candidates had been assessed in Milestone 1 but scores not yet uploaded should upload the scores with the evidence in the prescribed format by 31^st January 2021.
• The examination centres whose candidates had not been assessed should assess the candidates for Milestone 1 and upload the scores with the evidence in the prescribed format by 31^st January 2021.

Karogo has directed that the assessment records for all the projects should be delivered in the prescribed format to the sub- county Director by 15th February 2021.

The Kenya national examinations council, KNEC, has warned the close to 2 million KCPE and KCSE candidates to avoid cheating in the upcoming exams.

Through a letter to all the candidates through their head teachers and principals, KNEC said it is painful for it to cancel results for candidates who cheat each year.

Mercy Karogo , the Acting KNEC Chief Executive Officer,  cautioned that in most cases, candidates are misguided by teachers, parents and classmates to participate in examination malpractice.

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“These people mistakenly think that they are helping you, but instead they are exposing you to suffering through loss of examination results,” cautioned Karogo.

The CEO advised the candidates that they will not become better children by engaging in examination malpractice.

Despite the plea, Karogo warned that the KNEC will not hesitate to cancel national examination results for candidates who will engage in cheating.

“No examination results can be given to a candidate who has cheated because results are only given for a candidate’s own honest efforts,” said Karogo.

The council also warned of dire consequences for those who will engage in exam malpractice, citing Section 27(1) of the KNEC Act (2012), which spells out stern penalties for examination cheats.

“A person who, before or during an examination, has in his or her possession or under his or her control any examination paper or any part thereof, or any material or information purporting to relate to the contents of any paper or material for that examination, without lawful excuse, commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years, or a fine not exceeding Sh2 million, or both” reads the Act.

“In order for you to receive your results, you must not get involved in trying to obtain any unfair assistance from anybody. You must produce your own honest work during examinations,” said Karogo.

In her letter, Karogo advises the candidates to report any teacher, who tries to entice them to participate in cheating. Parents and fellow candidates who facilitate cheating in exams should also be reported.

KNEC now says it is committed to a fair examinations process for all candidates, promising that no child will be disadvantaged.

Just few days ago, KNEC publicly revealed a list of counties it has over the years put on its radar. These include;

Machakos, Meru, Isiolo, Turkana, West Pokot, Kericho, Narok, Elgeyo Marakwet, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera.

Over the past two years, KNEC has flagged;  Kisii, Homa Bay, Bungoma, Kisumu and Migori counties in Western and Nyanza regions over exam cheating.

The KNEC letter to all candidates has just come in time before candidates close for December holidays, which will end on January 4^th.

The revised education calendar for the candidates shows that KCPE examinations will be done between March 22 and 24.

Rehearsals will be done on March 19 with mathematics and English papers to be tackled on the first day of the examinations.

Science and Kiswahili subjects will be done on the second day, with social studies and religious education subjects done on the last day.

For KCSE, rehearsals have been scheduled for March 25, with written examinations kicking off on March 26. The examinations will run for three weeks and three days.

Marking of the two tests will be spread between April 19 and May 7, according to Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha.                                                                                            NEXT