The most teachers have ever conducted and marked national exams for students in Grade 6, Standard 8, and Form 4 in the coming months.
Over three million people will sit for the exams, making it the most candidates the nation has ever had, and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will send more than 250,000 teachers to serve as center administrators, supervisors, invigilators, and examiners.
The postponed 2020 exams were given in March and April of this year, and the commission sent out 242,406 teachers.
Ezekiel Machogu Ombaki, the newly appointed education cabinet secretary, will be put to the test by the unprecedented three sets of basic education exams. He will be required to deliver credible exams exactly one month after being sworn into office yesterday.
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Prior to their move to junior high school in January, students in grade six will take the first-ever Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA). The curriculum’s initial cohort is based on competency (CBC).
On Friday, November 25, they will have a rehearsal, and from Monday, November 28, to Wednesday, November 30, they will be evaluated.
For applicants in Standard 8, the evaluation will take place concurrently with the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) tests.
The last 8-4-4 cohort is expected to finish elementary school next year, making this the second-to-last KCPE exam.
Exams for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) will start on December 2 and last through December 23.
The total number of applicants is also anticipated to increase from the March 2021 administration, when 1,214,031 applicants took the KCPE and 826,807 applicants took the KCSE exams.
The TSC estimates that 1,268,830 students are enrolled in Grade 6 despite the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) having not yet made the official data public.
About 1,230,000 candidates for the KCPE and 880,000 students in Form 4 are anticipated.
Dr. David Njeng’ere, the CEO of Knec, briefed the main examiners in Nairobi last week on how the exams will be administered. Sub-county directors were given instructions by TSC CEO Ms. Nancy Macharia last month to find and approve qualified teachers to administer the exams.
According to the circular, “You are obliged to select, nominate, and vet center managers, supervisors, and invigilators.”
Institutional heads serve as the center managers, while supervisors and invigilators are drawn from different schools. Only teachers employed by Knec will take part.
Due to rumors that con artists have already begun spreading information that they can sell exam materials to applicants, Knec will struggle to stop irregularities.
Candidates were cautioned by Dr. Njeng’ere not to fall prey to scammers and given the assurance that all exam materials were in good hands.
“None of those pictures that are going around are actual exam papers. Anyone who presents an exam paper before the exam day, I challenge you,” he remarked.
Only multiple-choice questions will be included on the KPSEA because the school-based examinations already address writing.
Candidates will receive personalized score sheets with their names and evaluation codes.
A task force that had been established to provide advice on the implementation of the CBC introduced the summative assessment at the conclusion of Grade 6.
There won’t be any national exams at the end of primary school, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared during a national conference in August 2019.
This was also the intention of the CBC’s founders, who simply offered recommendations.
