This year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations kicked off today amid tight security measures ordered President Uhuru Kenyatta.
In Nakuru County, Teachers Service Commission chief executive officer Nancy Macharia and her counterpart at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Julius Jwan opened containers in Naivasha and Nakuru town and made random visits to examination centers.
In Naivasha and Gilgil sub counties, the exercise went on smoothly and exam supervisors and invigilators collected the papers on time.
At Kaptembwa Primary School in Nakuru town, Juan had a chance to interact with 54-year-old Raphael Ngugi who is one of the oldest candidate sitting for KCPE exams at the school.
Mr. Ngugi is sitting the examination as a private candidate. He is among 49 private candidates sitting for KCPE exams at Kaptembwa Primary School.
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There are 176 candidates at Heshima Primary School and 205 in Kaptembwo Primary School.
At Milimani Primary School where some 300 candidates are sitting the exams, Ms. Macharia said she was impressed with meticulous planning of the examinations saying so far no hitches have been reported.
“So far the process is a success and no incident has been report in any of the centers within this county. We are looking for forward to have a very successful exercise,” she said.
County Director Isaac Atebe said that three candidates will sit for their exams at Nakuru Level Five Hospital while another from Keringet Primary School in Kuresoi South will sit for the exams at Thika Level Five Hospital.
14 male and 5 female candidates are sitting for the papers at Nakuru GK Prisons.
The county registered 5,215 candidates in its 79 centers, an increase from 5,000 candidates who sat for the exams last year.
President Uhuru had warned of warned of dire consequences on the candidates, teachers and even parents—who risk jail terms if they are found to have aided cheating in the exams.
Mr. Isaac Atebe, the Nakuru County Director of Eduation said no incident has been reported so far.
More than 1 million class eight candidates sitting the exams in what will gauge their transition to the next phase of the 8-4-4 education curriculum.
