900,000 pupils to sit for KCPE exams

About 937,467 candidates are set to start their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination on Tuesday.

This number is 48,304 more than last year’s, when 889,163 pupils sat the examination.

On Monday, the candidates will do their rehearsals in readiness for the examination from Tuesday to Thursday.

The candidates will start with the mathematics paper on Tuesday morning followed by English Language and English Composition papers in the afternoon.

On Wednesday, they will write their Science, Kiswahili Lugha and Kiswahili Insha papers and conclude with Social Studies and Religious Studies on Thursday.

Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) Chief Executive Joseph Kivilu said the examination will be taken in 25,140 examination centres. There will be 1,070 distribution centres compared to 1,056 last year.

There will be 5,959 private examination centres with 139,393, candidates. There are 19,176 public examination centres with 798,060 candidates.

“The council will use professionals to manage field administration of the examination,” said Dr Kivilu in a statement.

He said additional security officers have been hired to boost security in Turkana, Mandera, Wajir and Tana River counties.

Dr Kivilu said that 25,261 supervisors, 58,215 invigilators, 50,280 security personnel and 7,451 examiners will be involved.

Nairobi County has the highest number of candidates — 50,821 while Lamu County has the lowest at 2,579.

This is the first set of candidates whose examination fees have been paid by the government.

This will also be the 10th time that the examination will be tested under the curriculum that was last revised in 2005, and which is set to be reviewed.

Dr Kivilu said the council was in constant contact with county education officers to ensure the examination goes on as planned in flood-prone areas.

“Helicopters have been obtained to airlift the papers to areas with heavy rains rendering roads impassable,” said the chief executive officer.

“Flood-prone areas have been mapped out and arrangements made to handle any challenges on the examination,” said Dr Kivilu.

He said exam distribution centres in areas likely to be hit by floods had been moved to safe grounds.

Meanwhile business and technical examination will run from November 18-21.

“The business examination will be administered to 15, 734 candidates in 195 examination centres, with 260 supervisors, 978 invigilators, 450 security personnel, 163 examiners  will be involved,” said Dr Kivilu.