Exam delays feared as rains cause havoc

A boy walks through a flooded section at Pipeline IDP camp in Nakuru on Sunday. The national examination council is grappling with the problem of delivering the exam to more than 1,000 candidates whose families were removed from IDP camps last week. PHOTO/JOSEPH KIHERI

What you need to know:

  • There are concerns as to whether rural roads are passable enough for test papers to be delivered to all schools
  • Candidates who were moved from IDP camps are said to be most unlikely to sit the examinations.
  • Likely to be worst affected are centres at in North Rift, northern Kenya and coastal region, where some schools are located many kilometres apart.

The rainy season started in earnest on Sunday with heavy downpours in most parts of Kenya, raising fears that national examinations could be affected. Students are set to do rehearsals on Monday and begin exams on Wednesday.

Examination materials are ferried to various schools by road and, according to a new timetable intended to curb cheating, tests are to be done between 8am and 2pm.

Internal Security and Provincial Administration permanent secretary Francis Kimemia has given provincial administrators firm instructions to provide enough vehicles and security staff to help curb irregularities in the exams.

According to the new examination timetable to be used for the first time this year, most papers are scheduled to end by 2pm as a way of reducing cases of cheating, which authorities say, mostly occur in the afternoons.

The question is whether rural roads are passable enough for test papers to be delivered to all schools before 8am. The early morning papers on Wednesday are supposed to end at 10am while the next set of papers starts at 10.30, according to the timetable.

The plan by the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) was to have papers completed by 2pm, although a few will still be taken later in the afternoons. The timetable changes, however, came at a price for candidates because they will be allowed only 30-minute breaks between papers. Previously, exams ran to as late as 6pm for practicals.

Authorities say it is important for candidates to start exams at the same time in this age of mobile phones, which can be used to distribute exam questions. Last year, 159 candidates were found with mobile phones in exam rooms and had their results cancelled.

In total, 336,633 candidates are expected to sit the examinations that are scheduled to end on November 16. In Standard Eight, 717,400 candidates will sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination in November.

Likely to be worst affected are centres at in North Rift, northern Kenya and coastal region, where some schools are located many kilometres apart. Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman Cleophas Tirop said the rains would be a big challenge and called on Knec to ensure there are no delays.

“They have opened many new centres so we hope the rains do not disrupt the exams,” he said. The council was, however, confident that everything will go according to plan. “We are determined to ensure we succeed, rain or no rain,” Knec spokesman Ken Ramani said.

The council is grappling with the problem of delivering the exam to more than 1,000 candidates whose families were removed from IDP camps last week. On Thursday, Knec secretary Paul Wasanga said the council had not received details of candidates who have had to move after IDP camps were demolished.

The Daily Nation interviewed such candidates and they said they had given up on sitting the exams. The Internally Displaced Persons Network national coordinator, Mr Keffa Magenyi said the candidates were most unlikely to sit the examinations.

Some IDPs, he said, had been moved from Eldoret to as far as Central Province, and their parents cannot afford the expense of sending them back where they registered to sit exams. Most of the school children from displaced families attended schools near their camps and registered for examinations there.

“We are yet to receive details of movement and whether any exam candidate is affected,” said Mr Wasanga last week. “Once details are forwarded to us, appropriate action will be taken.” In a newspaper supplement expected to be published in the Daily Nation on Tuesday, Mr Wasanga, however, says the council had taken care of the candidates who were in IDP camps.

Documents obtained by Daily Nation show the council has put in place an array of measures to deal with cheating. Mr Kimemia has written to all provincial administrators asking them to release regular and Administration police officers to escort and guard the papers.