Knec starts paying officers who supervised KCPE exams

The Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) has started paying professionals who were involved in administering the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams.

The council started paying the officers, including supervisors, invigilators, security officers and drivers, on Wednesday.

This is a departure from tradition, where payments were made after the release of examination results.

Knec acting chief executive officer Mercy Karogo urged workers who had not submitted the required information to do so to facilitate payment.

“Most of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) sub county directors have not submitted the data on the personnel who worked,” said Ms Karogo in a letter to TSC chief executive officer Nancy Macharia dated November 28.

“Teachers are grateful to Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i. For the first time, we have been paid by Knec on time,” said a teacher.

Last year, Dr Matiang’i directed the council to pay teachers on time for services they offer.

A total of Sh1.2 billion was used in 2015 to pay over 171,000 contracted professionals, including 51,717 officers for the KCSE exams and 119,929 for KCPE.

Meanwhile, Ms Karogo has asked sub-county directors of education and deputy county commissioners to play their designated roles as examinations for early childhood education commence on Monday.

She said their role will be to ensure that the storage facility for the examination materials is guarded by armed security officers.