KNEC battles phone misuse, floods as KCSE kicks off

Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) Mitihani House South C. [Wilbrforce Okwiri, Standard]

As the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations kicked off this morning, the Ministry of Education issued a circular to govern the use of mobile phones, which remain one of the biggest challenges in the effective administration of national exams in Kenya.

Speaking at the Thika Sub-County education offices on Monday during the opening of an examination container to mark the start of the KCSE exams, Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) Chief Executive Officer Dr David Njengere said the misuse of mobile phones continues to undermine exam integrity despite existing guidelines.

“Phones remain the greatest threat to the credibility of our national examinations. Invigilators, supervisors, and even non-teaching staff such as cooks are required to surrender their phones, but compliance has not been uniform,” said Dr Njengere.

Dr Njengere added that the gates of the school remain open as the exam materials are ferried into the school noting that is a simple rule that will help secure the integrity of the examinations.

In areas experiencing heavy rainfall, the government has mobilised aircraft to ferry examination materials to ensure no candidate is left behind this will ensure that every learner must have an equal opportunity to sit their exams, regardless of location or weather conditions,” he stated.

The CEO added that to prevent early exposure of examination papers, KNEC now releases materials only after the first paper of the day has commenced, and all scripts are returned to secure containers immediately after completion.

This year’s examination season is one of the largest in Kenyan history. A total of 3,424,836 candidates are sitting the national assessments.

996,078 students are sitting their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) while 1,298,089 are handling the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA).

On the other hand, 1,130,669 pupils are sitting their inaugural Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) under the Competency-Based Curriculum.