Today the Principal Secretary of Basic Education Dr Belio Kipsang revealed changes in the way national examinations are administered.
It has also been revealed that the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) are set to go through modifications made in the administration of national examinations.
Dr Kipsang had gone to Westlands Sub-County in Nairobi County where he opened a safe examination storage container that had KCSE examination papers in it.
The PS also criticized the PS and pointed out holes in the previous administration for militarizing the administration of national examinations.
“When I was in a school examination booklets were brought and distributed by teachers. We need to go back to that system where there are no police officers providing the round-the-clock security of national examinations,” said Kipsang.
Kipsang said that it is only the education sector where stakeholders operate under the supervision of the police force.
“Doctors and nurses are not accompanied by police officers to the theatre so we should not have officers accompanying teachers in the distribution and invigilation of examinations,” said PS Kipsang.
However, the PS implored education administrators to show that they can be trusted with that duty. He said that examinations were crucial to the country.
“It is up to the teachers to show Kenyans that they can handle examination materials which are of importance to this country,” added Kipsang.
The then Cabinet Secretary for Education in 2017 declared military precision for national examinations and issued a warning to those culpable of examination cheating of strict penalties.
Since that year, police officers have been the public face of the KCPE and KCSE administrations. Former CS Matiang’i and the former CS for Education Prof George Magoha have also been blamed for the militarization of national examinations.