President Uhuru Kenyatta when he met Education CS George Magoha and others ahead of the release of the 2020 KCPE exam results.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has commended the Education ministry for the successful delivery of the KCPE exam despite challenges posed by Covid-19.
Uhuru spoke at State House earlier today ahead of the official release of the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam results at Mtihani House by Education CS George Magoha.
Magoha was with Head of Public Service Dr Joseph Kinyua, Basic Education PS Julius Jwan, Kenya National Examinations Council CEO Dr Mercy Karogo and TSC chief executive Dr Nancy Macharia.
The highest mark recorded this year is 433/500 by Faith Mumo in the exam that ran from March 22-24.
The 2020 national examination was unique to the fact that it took place in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which posed a great challenge to the Education Ministry.
The Standard reported that some examiners were unable to show up for the marking exercise due to the ongoing restriction of movement in the country.
This was as a result of the partial lockdown of some counties, while others decided not to turn up due to fears of the disease.
"When the Covid-19 pandemic befell the country in March 2020, the education sector was one that got completely disoriented," Magoha said at Mtihani House.
He went on, "The future of our 15 million basic education learners seemed thrown deep into turmoil."
As part of efforts to recover the lost time following the long closure due to Covid-19 last year, the ministry has reorganised term dates for schools in a manner that would help recover the lost time.
"We are scheduled to reopen schools for Third Term on May 10 for all classes except Grade Four and Form One," the CS said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House on April 15 when he met the Education team led by CS George Magoha ahead of the 2020 KCPE results release.
A total of 1,181,725 candidates registered for KCPE this year.
About 10,437 examination centres were set up across the country for Class Eight candidates.
At least 428 candidates in Coast who had registered for this year's KCPE examination did not sit the papers.
According to Coast Education Coordinator Edward Arita, Mombasa County had the highest number of candidates who did not sit the exams at the centres they had registered.
Arita attributed the situation to massive layoffs in the hospitality industry due to the adverse effects of Covid-19, adding that most of the sacked employees migrated to other regions.
