The government has assured Kenyans that adequate measures have been put in place to ensure all Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations take exams despite the current enhanced rains and insecurity in some areas.
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Chief Executive Officer Charles Ong’ondo, said adequate transport facilities including helicopters, have been put in place to ensure the examination papers and the candidates access the various centres.
Prof. Ong’ondo, who sits in the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) board, said the Ministry of Interior had assured KNEC and the country that all areas affected by insecurity would be properly secured to ensure that all candidates do the exams without interference.
“The Ministry of Interior has assured us and the country that security had been enhanced in all areas to ensure that the candidates are not interfered with,” he said, adding that the examinations would run as scheduled.
He said this at the Malindi Deputy County Commissioner’s office in Kilifi County where he supervised the distribution of KCSE examination materials to the various centre managers in Malindi Sub County.
“We have helicopters which will reach places that are flooded. We have arrangements to move candidates if schools are flooded in various areas and this is already being done in some areas like Mandera, Baringo and Samburu,” he said.
“On behalf of the KNEC which I represent in this region, I want to assure all the people of Malindi, the Coast region and the entire country that the KNEC has made all the arrangements through the multi-agency approach, the government working as a team to ensure that all the children will do the exams as expected,” he added.
He thanked Ministry of Education Staff and teachers for ensuring the seamless administration of KCPE, KPSEA and KILEA examinations that were held and concluded last week, noting that there no major incidents reported during the tests.
Malindi Deputy County Commissioner David Lusava said there were enough security officers to man all the examination centres within the sub county.
Malindi Sub County Director of Education Rashid Roba Adan said the Sub County has two examination containers, one at the DCC’s office serving 42 examination centres and another at the Langobaya Assistant County Commissioner’s office to serve eight centres.
About 3,200 candidates are sitting the examinations in the Sub County for both public and private KCSE candidates, he said.
By Emmanuel Masha
