The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) has announced that the upcoming Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) national examination for the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) will be graded using modern technology and teachers won’t be contacted.
The Grade 6 exams will be electronically scored thanks to equipment purchased by KNEC called Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) systems. The machine collects the candidates’ response sheets using specialized scanning and marks their work.
Exams only consist of multiple-choice questions, which are easily marked by computers.
In contrast to previous years when marking took longer, the new machines will mark the candidate’s scripts in bunches of 100 and 200 sheets, taking the smallest amount of time.
In 2021, the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) was electronically scored.
The government would save billions of shillings that were set aside for the printing, giving out, and marking of tests as a result of the introduction of the machines.
For schools to download and print so that their students may get a sense of what the national test will be like, KNEC has started making online copies available. The tests are subsequently graded by the teachers, and the final results are posted online.
The final exam for students in grade six will be given from November 28 through November 30, 2022. The five disciplines they will take are social studies, mathematics, english, kiswahili, integrated science, and creative art.
The exam, according to KNEC CBC Coordinator Ann Ngatia, will consist of five papers and be multiple choice.
“Sciences and technology will be combined, and topics including home science, agriculture, and physical health will be covered,”
The five-subject Summative National Examination and the School Based Assessment (SBA), which is administered annually in upper primary classrooms, will be used to measure student performance in primary schools.
Projects, practicals, portfolios, and oral exams will all be used for the SBA. This enables students to show what they have learned. With KNEC’s assistance, teachers will implement the plan.
