2017 KCPE, KCSE exam papers ready months ahead

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i

Preparations for this year's national examinations are complete, with reports security will be tighter than last year to curb cheating.

The Standard also established that more than 15 million papers have been printed for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.

Last year, only 11 million copies were printed for some 1.5 million candidates.

This year, about 1.6 million candidates have registered to sit the examinations scheduled to last only one month, for security reasons.

Government sources said last year's security features have been enhanced to guarantee credible examinations.

"The process is complete and it will be tighter this year," the official said, declining to divulge further details for fear of compromising the security of the examinations.

This means that security features of the examination papers have been modified, the number of personnel increased and hitches experienced during last year's administration addressed.

During last year's examination, packaging of papers was done strictly based on the number of candidates with no spare question papers.

School heads were tasked with the responsibility of picking examination papers from the strong security containers.

Candidate's sitting arrangement was adjusted to avoid cheating, supervision and invigilation enhanced and two policemen assigned per examination centre.

A total of 1,002, 922 candidates were registered to sit the 2017 KCPE.

This is the highest number of examination registration ever recorded.

Another 615, 284 have registered to sit the KCSE examination this year.

KCPE examinations will last three days, starting October 31 to November 2.

KCSE timetable

According to the KCSE timetable, rehearsals will be done on November 3.

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i will today brief senior security and Ministry of Education officials on the administration of the examinations.