900,000 candidates write KCPE exams in race for 2015 slots

Close to 900,000 primary school candidates start writing their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations this morning, as authorities assured security had been heightened in regions grappling with sporadic attacks.

The examinations involving some 889, 107 candidates battling for Form One places next year will take place in approximately 24,278 examination centres across the country. The Standard Eight candidates are scheduled to tackle Mathematics and English papers on the first day of the examinations that run through to Thursday.

Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has contracted supervisors, 55,505 invigilators, 48,576 security personnel and 6,071 drivers for the three day nationwide examination.

Authorities assured more security personnel had been deployed to watch over schools in Baringo County where more than 12,000 candidates would write the examination. This followed fears over their safety after the killing of 22 police officers in Kapedo which borders the county and Turkana.

Some of the areas hit by insecurity include parts of Marigat, Baringo North and Tiaty constituency where heavy security has been deployed to secure examination centres.

“Armed officers have been dispatched to all schools that are in banditry-prone areas and I can assure you that everything is on course,” said Peter Okwanyo, area county commissioner.

Among the schools located in the hotspots are Kapedo Girls, Lopalal, Lomelo, New Silale and Kapedo Mixed primary schools.

Yesterday, Nairobi County primary schools were busy preparing the pupils for the examination during rehearsals.

EMERGE TOP

“The rehearsal is just meant to take the pupils through the ropes of what to do when the actual examination starts. We have prepared them adequately and we made sure the syllabus was extensively covered,” explained Mary Okello, the director of Makini Schools.

She added that with the support both the pupils and the school have received from the parents, she believes Makini School would emerge top in the country.

“I was in the Nairobi County education task force and we made many recommendations. We believe the county will do well in this year’s examination,” she said.

When The Standard visited Kilimani Primary School, the candidates were going through a similar exercise.

Vallary Akinyi, a candidate at the school, said she was prepared for examination adding that the pupils had been counselled to help them overcome the anxiety that comes with the examination period.

Collins Juma, another candidate, said he hoped to do well enough for enrolment in either Mang’u Boys High School or Kapsabet Boys.

“We completed the syllabus and helped the pupils do their revision. We can only hope that they will do well and if the school attains a mean score of 275 then I will be contented,” the school’s head teacher Gideon Wasike explained.

Despite insecurity in Turkana East constituency, Knec Chief Executive Officer Joseph Kivilu has assured the examination there would go on smoothly.

Dr Kivilu said talks had been held with Turkana’s director of education, and the county security chiefs had also met over the insecurity in the region.

Kivilu said examination papers in volatile areas like Turkana were stored in police armouries awaiting the test date. “We have beefed up security because we do not want to take chances. The rest is now left to the candidates. They have prepared for these questions for eight years so they need not panic,”  he said on Sunday.

Some counties have taken measures to ensure both national examinations: the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education and KCPE go on with minimal interruption, with Siaya County banning loud music during the period.

Crackdown order

Chiefs and their deputies were ordered to carry out a crackdown on entertainment joints that would violate the order from the acting Deputy County Commissioner Samson Akatch.

Taita Taveta County introduced a feeding programme for candidates including those in secondary schools with Governor John Mruttu saying over Sh8 million would be spent.

As the KCPE candidates start the examination today, private schools continue to hope that 60 per cent of of all the slots for national schools would be shared equally among the 889,107 candidates in next year’s Form One selection.

The Kenya Private Schools Association had made the proposal to the Education ministry recently in the hope that last minute wrangles over students’ admissions would be averted.