The 2020 Kenya Certificate of Education (KCSE) Candidates are expected to get their results today. Marking of the national examination, which was conducted under the Covid-19 pandemic, was completed last week.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha announced that the examinations would be administered and marked “with a human face”, to relieve fears of learners who felt incompletely prepared to sit the test.
“We are all determined to ensure (that) grades awarded to our learners are all merited and that our academic qualifications are beyond reproach,” Prof Magoha said at the end of the examinations.
The CS has given today, May 10, 2021, as the deadline for the release of the results. On Friday last week, he announced that the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) only required a few days to process the papers received from the markers.
“We are going to the next step which will require certain experts to do certain things and, therefore, there should be no rumors as to when the exam results will be ready. They will be ready when they are ready. The results will come out reasonably well as expected,” Prof Magoha stated while declaring the conclusion of the marking exercise.
Private schools
Private primary school owners accused KNEC and the Ministry of Education of marking down their students in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams released last month, however, Education officials firmly dismissed the accusation.
The Education CS intimated that an early announcement of results would help to recover time lost last year due to the prolonged closure of schools made by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He stated that candidates who wish to apply for the new diploma in teacher education that has been adjusted to the competency-based curriculum (CBC) will be eligible for the next intake in August.
Most universities will transition continuing students and are expected to admit the 2020 candidates at the start of the academic year in September 2021, thereby avoiding an accumulation.
Universities, primary and secondary schools, and tertiary institutions will resume learning tomorrow (Tuesday) since they were shut down in March following a wave of Covid-19 infections.
The KCSE exams were administered from 26th of March 2021 to April 21, 2021, with the marking commencing immediately. About 752,891 candidates registered for the exam, however, thousands of them missed the examinations.
Dropouts
After the long Covid holiday, many students failed to return to school. Thousands of girls were married while others got pregnant or gave birth making short their educational journeys.
Boys also dropped out and fell into drug and substance abuse while others opted to join the informal businesses like operating bodabodas. According to Magoha, 12,424 candidates who were registered for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education missed their test this year doubling the 2019 figure of 5,530.
Cases of examination malpractices during the examination period were reported. 27 teachers were relieved of their duties as center managers, supervisors, or invigilators. They are set to face disciplinary action from, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Another 37 people including three university students and two businessmen, were held over alleged engagement in exam irregularities. Fifty-three mobile phones were also impounded in various examination rooms. Prof Magoha has, however, affirmed that the examination did not leak.
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