Form four examinations kicked off in the country with senior government officials vowing that the exam will be above board and no serious incidents being reported.
A total of 227,000 teachers will oversee the 2020 KCSE national examinations that kicked off today across the country.
Seven candidates in Nyamira County are undertaking their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination from hospital beds.
Nyamira County Commissioner (CC), Amos Mariba confirmed to the press this morning that six KCSE candidates are doing their national examinations from various health facilities within Nyamira County after being admitted due to birth pangs.
“All the seven candidates were expectant and by the time the examination rehearsals were being conducted yesterday they had not been discharged from the various hospitals where they are admitted, except one who was admitted yesterday night, for they had just delivered and needed time to medically stabilize before they are discharged from hospital to continue doing their exams from schools where they are registered,” the Commissioner confirmed.
“Three of these candidates are from Nyamira South Sub County schools and are all admitted at Nyamira referral hospital who delivered safely, two are from Borabu sub County where one of the candidates delivered through cesarean section and two from Nyamira North Sub County where one delivered yesterday evening and the other early today,” Mariba explained.
From Gucha the Deputy County Commissioner Mr. Mwachiro Ngala confirmed to KNA that the security is beefed up during the exercise and he is optimistic that the exercise will end well.
Mr Ngala also reminded the stakeholders to uphold Covid-19, WHO regulations while invigilating the candidates. This, he added, would help the government control the virus’ spread in the country.
“I just want to remind you that this is a job you have been doing. It is not a new assignment. Ensure that you follow the instructions properly and also the health protocols. Wear your masks while at the exam centers. Do your best so that we achieve credible results,” said Ngala.
Gucha Sub-county has a total of twenty-two KCSE exam centres, 21 public secondary schools and one private secondary school.
The number of candidates sitting for this year’s secondary national examinations totals to 1,248 broken down to gender variance, the number male candidates is 578 candidates, while their counterparts are 670 girls. This demonstrates an almost equal ratio in terms of gender dispersion with a slight high number of girls of about 92 more to male candidates.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Dr Nancy Macharia said the teachers have been vetted and certified to supervise the examinations.
Speaking in Mombasa on Friday when she supervised the opening of the examination papers container at the Provincial headquarters at Uhuru na Kazi, Ms Macharia said that the teachers were found to be suitable and recommended to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) to participate in the exercise.
”We know our teachers are some of the best and we expect them to demonstrate the highest level of professionalism. I urge all the Centre managers to be extra vigilant and ensure that the examinations are guarded,” she said.
Mombasa County has some 9042 candidates sitting for the examination out of which 4038 are girls and 5004 are boys. The county has 142 examination centers.
The candidates started with English paper for both braille and the hearing impaired before English Comprehension, Literary Appreciation & Grammar for various categories of learners.
Ms Macharia disclosed that intelligence reports have led to the closer monitoring and surveillance of some 20 schools that are reported to have planned to cheat in the examination.
She said that each examination Centre has been assigned two security personnel to ensure that the examination being administered to candidates remains secure and are not tampered with in any way.
Elsewhere the Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of ICT Innovation and Youth Affairs Maureen Mbaka has assured KCSE Candidates that the government had put measures to ensure credible examination results.
Supervising opening of the exams storage container and distribution of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) materials at Kenyenya Sub-County headquarters in Kisii County this morning, Mbaka said other senior government officials were conducting a similar exercise around the country to ensure the process of administration was reliable.
Later, at Magena Girls Secondary School in the same sub-county where she had gone to oversee the opening of English paper one, the CAS urged students not to relent in observance of the Ministry of Health Covid-19 safety guidelines in bid to remain healthy during the exams period.
“You will get results according to the efforts you put. I wish you success in these exams,” she added.
From Nandi County Commissioner Geoffrey Omoding say of the just concluded KCPE examinations that some head teachers from Nandi North Sub County forced 44 candidates from various primary schools to register for the National exam in private centres claiming that they would undermine the performance of their schools.
The Commissioner has summoned DCI officers to investigate into the matter and bring the culprits to book.
“We are going to take action against those head teachers for denying their pupils to do exams in their respective schools and also the Education Officers in the adult education office who colluded with the school heads and allowed young children to register in the private centres,” he stated.
Mr. Omoding further said that his administration will make a follow up and nab the suspects that were responsible in impregnating minor pupils who delivered during the examination period.
Meanwhile, a KCSE candidate from AIC Kapchemoi Secondary School is sitting for her exams at the Kapsabet County Referral Hospital.
The candidate, who delivered on Thursday night is in a stable condition and she will be taking her exams at the facility under the watch of a security officer until ready for discharge.
The county has 17, 993 candidates sitting for the examinations with 248 centres.
Meanwhile the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has urged principals and exam officials to ensure the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination is conducted devoid of any irregularities in Vihiga County.
This was one of the key messages from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Professor Charles Ong’ondo when he supervised opening of the container and distribution of examination materials in Mbale town Friday morning.
Addressing the principals, who are also examination centre managers, Ong’ondo said the examination council will closely monitor all centres across the country in order to guarantee the exercise was credible.
“As centre managers your key task is to fully implement to the letter the KNEC guidelines governing this exercise,” Ong’ondo told the principals.
To avoid cases of examination cheating, the CEO outlined some key areas the council would take exceptional interest during entire period of the KCSE examination that officially kicked off on today.
“In order to minimize examination irregularities, ensure you don’t have any strangers in your centres,” said Ong’ondo, warning the council will not tolerate centres that would be found with individuals masquerading as school workers or otherwise.
Besides ensuring the candidates are thoroughly frisked before entering examination rooms, the centre mangers were also asked to be more vigilant and guard against passage of any unauthorized materials into the rooms.
A total of 15,420 candidates are sitting for the 2020 KCSE examination in Vihiga County.
KNA Team
