The marking of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination scripts will kick off tomorrow. Education Cabinet Secretary Professor Magoha said the marking will start immediately after the candidates complete their exams.
The final KCSE exam papers which include Home Science, Power Mechanics, Art, and Design, Electricity, Aviation Technology, Drawing, and Design and Computer Studies will be written tomorrow.
The CS said all security and health measures were in place to safeguard the teachers and other workers involved in the exam marking. The country has been hurting from a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths which has led to a partial lockdown in the Counties of Nairobi, Machakos, Kajiado, Kiambu, and Nakuru counties.
Chief examiners are already at marking centers waiting to begin the exercise with about 20,000more expected to start arriving at their assigned marking centers from tomorrow.
“We are doing extremely well and preparations for marking this set of exams are at a very advanced stage. The marking will start immediately and it is expected to take about three weeks,” the CS said.
Covid-19 vaccine
Examiners are given special passes to allow them to access the centers, due to the current lockdown in the five counties to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The Education CS has asked examiners to get vaccinated before moving to the marking centers. Last week on Thursday, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed that all teachers and support staff get vaccinated against Covid-19 irrespective of their age.
“The President has directed that all teachers and support staff in our schools be allowed to take up the Covid-19 vaccination as part of the measures to ensure that our schools are safe from the virus,” said Magoha.
Magoha noted that this year’s exams had been written in a difficult situation but said the process had been smooth and successful.
Exam Cheating
“There has never been a situation in this country since independence where children were subjected to conditions they have been this time around. That is why the President directed us to bend backward
and that any child, for example, who is found with a cell phone can go to court when it is flexible but will continue with the exams to the end so that judgment is given at a holistic stage,” the CS explained.
The Ministry has had to deal with numerous cases of early exposure of exams. About 20 people were arrested over attempts to facilitate cheating.
“I want to assure the public that this early exposure actually means nothing,” the CS said last week. The ministry is preparing to re-open
schools for the third term on May 10, except for Grade Four and those who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam last month, who are scheduled to report to Form One in July.
Schools inspection
Magoha stated that the government is confident that learning will resume as scheduled although the government will continue to observe the country’s Covid-19 situation. He asked schools to continue adhering to
Ministry of Health protocols in order to manage the virus.
“As part of our efforts to recover the lost time following the long closure due to Covid-19 last year, were-organized tests for schools in a manner that would help us recover the lost time,” said the CS.
Currently, plans are underway to examine the preparation of schools to re-open ahead of the increasing Covid-19 cases. Health and Education officials are set to conduct an inspection of learning institutions to determine their preparedness.
The Education Ministry has also announced that it will immediately begin preparations for the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams which are set to be administered early in 2022.
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