New exam, term dates set as schools re-open

Form Four examinations, which were set to begin on Wednesday, have been pushed back by three weeks to begin on October 15.

Kenya Certificate of Primary Education papers will be given between December 4 and December 6. The earlier date was November 13 to 15.

The first term of 2013 will start a month late, on February 4, instead of early January. This means that pupils will be in school for only a month before the General Election, which might disrupt learning.

These are some of the measures taken to repair the damage to the school calendar caused by the three-week teachers’ strike that ended on Monday after the government agreed to pay them Sh13.4 billion.

(READ: Teachers accept pay deal, end strike)

Changes to term and exam dates will give students time to catch up with revision and complete the syllabus.

“We hope that the General Election or the run-off will not adversely affect learning. We will play with the tools that we have,” Education Minister Mutula Kilonzo said.

All primary and secondary schools will now close on Friday November 23 instead of Friday November 2.

The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) written papers will be done between November 12 and December 11.

“It is important for all of us to appreciate Article 53 of the Constitution that notes ‘a child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child” and since they lost considerable amount of time, consultations have been held and agreed upon the new school and exam dates,” he said.

The minister was accompanied by Kenya National Examinations Council boss Paul Wasanga and officials from the Teachers Service Commission and directors of the Ministry of Education.

Marking and release of examination results has also been affected by the changes. KCPE marking and processing of the exam will take place between December 7 and January 25 when the results will be released.

The same process for the KCSE exam will be undertaken between December 13 and April 16 when the results will be released. “As the minister for Education, I will issue a gazette notice redeeming the old exam timetable and gazetting the new ones.”

Furthermore, first term next year will start on Monday February 4 and end on Friday May 17, 2013. The second term will start on June 3 and end on September 6, while the final term will start on September 30 and end on November 29.

Mr Kilonzo said he had written to the Treasury asking to release Sh300 million to facilitate the exam process. He has also requested Sh1.7 billion and Sh3.9 billion for both the free primary and secondary education programmes.

This year, 820,255 Standard Eight pupils will sit KCPE. The exams will be administered in more than 23, 000 schools. Another 437,782 will sit KCSE in more than 7,000 schools countrywide.

On Monday, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) officially called off its three-week strike, paving the way for reopening of schools. Knut secretary-general David Okutta made the announcement at the union’s headquarters in Nairobi and asked teachers to resume classes today at 8am.

“We are grateful that the government considered our demands, I have called off the strike and all teachers should report back to work tomorrow (Monday),” he said.

Knut chairman Wilson Sossion said the proposal by the government to pay Sh13.4 billion had been accepted by the union’s National Executive Council (NEC), which endorsed the decision to call off the strike.

On Sunday, the government through Finance Minister Njeru Githae signed a deal with Knut in which Sh13.4 billion would be paid in October and backdated to July 1.