Flooding fears as KCPE exams start

A record number of Standard Eight candidates start their national examinations on Tuesday, amid fears that rains may affect administration of the tests in flood-prone areas.

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In Malindi, 50 candidates in five schools might not sit the tests unless they are airlifted to other exam centres, said the Kenya Red Cross and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), which named the Coast and northern Kenya as some of the worst affected.

In a statement, Ocha said, however, that the government was making arrangements to ensure the exams were not disrupted. “The Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams may be disrupted in the flood-prone areas. Alternative arrangements are being made to cater for the KCPE candidates,” it said.

Roads linking schools in the areas had been cut off, while bridges were washed away. Some schools have been turned to camps for displaced people, following the floods.

In North Eastern, school furniture, including desks, has been destroyed after classes were submerged by floods while some schools are being used as evacuation and refuge centres for those displaced in Malindi, Tana River and Mandera districts.

The report, said the agencies, was based on information received from the government, Kenya Red Cross Society, UN and other humanitarian partners in the field. “Some areas are inaccessible following the torrential rain that has hit most parts of the country” said the statement. In the coastal districts, the provincial administration is urging residents living in flood-prone areas, to move to higher ground.

In El Wak division in Mandera District, heavy rains over two days in the past week have left 1,800 people displaced, 500 latrines submerged and 500 shallow wells contaminated by human waste. Three schools have also been affected.

Rehabilitation of classrooms and school compounds will be required in Tana River, Malindi and Mandera districts. When River Tana burst its banks last week flooding Bura Kofira, Bura Crush, Bura Anani and On Wardei villages in Tana River district, learning was interrupted in most schools in the area after people moved away from their homes.

This year the number of candidates will be the highest in the 20-year history of the KCPE exam — 727,000, among them 680 Southern Sudanese. The number represents an increase from 695,732 who sat the examination last year. Rehearsals for the exams are taking place in more than 18,000 schools this morning.

According to the official timetable, the candidates will sit the first paper, mathematics, between 8.30 and 10.30am on Tuesday. Following the new timetable, which restricts the papers from ending at 5pm as previously, the candidates will only have a 30-minute break between the morning papers.

In instructions sent out to schools, Kenya National Examinations Council secretary Paul Wasanga has warned candidates against cheating. “If there is evidence of widespread irregularities in any centre, the whole examination results for the whole centre will be cancelled,” he said.