Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has called for an emergency multisectoral meeting ahead of the KCPE and KCSE examinations scheduled to be held later in March 2021.
The meeting which will involve various stakeholders in the education sector seeks to set a road map for how the national examinations would be conducted as well as measures to be undertaken during the exam period.
The meeting is set for Thursday, March 4, 2021. The CS had earlier assured that the national examination papers for the secondary and primary school candidates had been printed and brought into the country.
“I want to assure you the examinations are ready and in less than four weeks we shall start,” Magoha stated on February 25.
Stakeholders in the education sector are parents, communities, school heads both public and private sector as well as county governments, and Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs).
In addition to the normal administration issues, the ministry will have to deal with the financial distress reporting in various schools where principals have reported a slump in funds to run operations, ahead of KCPE and KCSE examinations.
Another issue is the recent school fires around schools in the country including Tharaka Boys High school, Kiini Secondary School, Precious Blood Riruta and Bungoma High school, all of which occurred since January 2021.
This year, 1,088,986 candidates are expected to sit for KCPE while 699,745 students will take the KCSE.
Revised timetables by KNEC showed that showed KCPE exams will commence on March 22 and will take place over three days ending on March 24.
KCSE Exams will start a day later and will last three weeks and three days.
Prof Magoha had earlier directed heads of schools to ensure that students sitting for their KCSE examinations have their applications for Universities colleges completed within the set time.
Magoha expressed concern that students could miss out on their preferred university courses if they failed to complete their applications on the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) portal.
