KCPE candidates get final briefing as exams begin

Class Eight pupils will on Monday be briefed by examiners on what will be expected of them when they start their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations Tuesday.
Supervisors and invigilators will ensure the candidates and the schools are properly registered and that the rules and procedures to be followed during the examinations are clear to everyone. They will also be checking if the examination halls have proper lighting, ventilation and appropriate seats.

SUPERVISORS
“Ensure candidates are arranged as per the index numbers at the spacing of 1.22 meters apart as per the attendance register. That all desks are clear without any writing at the top and the class and school has no stimulus materials,” reads the Kenya National Examinations Council guidelines to the examiners.
The centre managers, who are the headteachers, will hand over the candidates to supervisors, who will brief the invigilators and candidates. The managers will read a letter from the council’s chief executive to the candidates.

ARRANGEMENTS
Any adjustments in procedure will be noted during the rehearsals and recorded in the occurrence book.
On Sunday, Knec Chief Executive Mercy Karogo confirmed that all arrangements are in place for the exercise throughout the country.
“Everything is set and I wish all the candidates luck in the examinations,” Dr Karogo said.

COMPOSITION
On Tuesday, the candidates will sit mathematics, English language and Composition, while on Wednesday, they will take science, Kiswahili and Insha. They will conclude with Social Studies and Christian Religious Education on Thursday.
A total of 1,060,759 candidates will sit the examination and Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has directed that the 459 examination containers be opened daily at 6am.
An estimated 180,735 field officers will be used to administer the exams.

MONITORING
A total of 27,161 centre managers, 27,354 supervisors, 65,107 invigilators, 54,322 security officers and 6,791 drivers will be deployed.
According to Knec, a total of 531,548 boys will write the tests compared to 529,155 girls.
More than 1,000 special monitors drawn from various ministries and departments of government have been lined up for monitoring.

QUESTIONS
A report by the ministry of Education attributes failure in the examinations to misunderstanding and misinterpretation of questions, poor time management skills, failure to follow instructions, failure to understand examination terminology and examination phobia.
This year’s national examinations will be Ms Mohamed’s first assignment in managing the exercise after taking over from Dr Fred Matiang’i.

MOBILEPHONES
Her major challenge will be dealing with pre-exposure of examination material and use of mobile phones during the exercise.
“I will lead other senior Government officials in the monitoring exercise to witness the opening of containers at the crack of dawn and to supervise examination distribution and management,” the CS said last week.
Ms Mohamed said that during the duration of the tests, all papers and answer sheets will not be taken out of the examination room until all the papers have been turned in.

INTERFERE
“This means that answer sheets for the morning paper will remain in the examination room even as the afternoon paper is underway. This will check against previously witnessed cases where answer sheets from the morning paper are unsealed and interfered with,” the CS said.
She encouraged the candidates to walk into their examination centers with the same confidence and enthusiasm they have shown during their years in school.