The Principal Secretary to the State Department for University Education and Research Amb Simon Nabukwesi has called on the media to stop reporting negative things about the ongoing Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
Amb Nabukwesi spoke positively regarding the KCSE examinations saying that the examination’s integrity is ‘perfect’ implying that it has not been affected by the various reports arrested of school heads, teachers, school workers and even university students over malpractices.
He said that the examinations have been ongoing smoothly in most examination centres and called on the media not to overly report negative things about the KCSE.
“A drop of dirty water in the ocean does not mean the whole ocean is dirty. Water stays clean. The examination’s integrity has not been affected,” said Amb Nabukwesi.
“What the media projects are what the world will go with, so when there are reports that examinations have leaked, the world will automatically put our education certificates in a position where anybody could challenge the education system. This puts us in a position where we may be avoided more so those who wish to study in good universities,” he added.
The Permanent Secretary spoke after he oversaw the opening and distribution of KCSE papers at the Nyeri Central Deputy County Commissioner’s office today.
The PS also recognized the transparency shown by both parents and security officials.
Nyeri has so far recorded zero cases of examination malpractice.
The PS also urged both education and security officials in charge of the ongoing examinations to continue abiding by the provided invigilation guidelines saying that the candidates follow their lead.
However, he rebuked officers who have failed the integrity of the ongoing examination by involving themselves in examination malpractice.
The examination entered its ninth day today with candidates sitting for their CRE/Islamic/Hindu Religious papers as well as History and Government Paper 2 in the afternoon.
Nyeri has 20,316 candidates sitting for their KCSE in 223 examination centres. Of these, four of them are inmates at the maximum-security prison of King’ong’o. the KCSE examination shall come to an end on the 1st of April.
When KCPE Results will be out
The Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof George Magoha revealed that the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results will be officially released on any day between Wednesday and Saturday this week.
Kenyans have been mostly speculative when asked when the KCPE results will be released since the KCPE Insha and Composition papers have already been marked. The announcement has just come in time to ease tensions.
Magoha was speaking while in Kayole where he oversaw the KCSE examinations that are currently ongoing in secondary schools across the country. However, the actual date of the official release of the results will depend on the availability of His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“The results will be out anytime between Wednesday and Saturday depending on His Excellency the President’s availability. We should be able to inform our children on how they have performed,” said Prof George Magoha.
For simple, if the president is available, the examinations could be released on Thursday or Friday.
In the last week, machines completed the marking of multiple-choice questions with only Insha and English Composition remaining.
Earlier, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) had been forced to reschedule the date for examiners from the 18th of March to the 15th of March.
In the examiner’s invite, successful examiners were directed to report for marking of Insha and Composition papers at the Alliance High School.
In the past week, the Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof George Magoha announced that the KCPE results will be released within two weeks.
“If we push ourselves, the results will be out within fourteen days,” said CS Magoha.
The CS also revealed that marking began immediately after the first three papers had been handed in.
“If we delay it could get to that time but you shouldn’t be surprised if we finish earlier,” added CS Magoha while at the Kamkunji Sub-County container pick-up point in Nairobi where he oversaw the examination distribution process at the container.
On his part, the Early Learning and Basic Education PS Julius Jwan also assured that results would be released early to allow for a smooth transition to the secondary school level.
“We are determined not to waste any time. Marking of examinations will be completed within a short time and results will be released to allow students to join secondary school by May,” said PS Juan.
The acquisition of a modern Optical Mark Recognition which scores the papers electronically has made the process of marking multiple questions easier. The OMR captures marked data from candidates’ answer sheets using a specialized scanning technique.
The machines mark the multiple-choice questions by shining a beam of light on the papers. The contrasting reflection at predetermined positions on every page is used to detect marked areas as they reflect less light that the unmarked areas of the paper.
The machines marked the scripts in batches of 100 to 200 sheets unlike previously when the technology of that time used to take hours to do the same job.
This year’s KCPE has a total of 1,225,507 candidates sitting for their KCPE examination from 28,316 KCPE examination centres.
This year represents an increase of 33,755 which is equivalent to an increase of 2.75 per cent. 491 distribution centres served this year’s KCPE examinations.