KCSE marking starts today, CS Magoha confirms

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha. [File, Standard]

Marking of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination scripts will begin today.

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha said KCSE marking will be done under strict and meticulous guidelines to ensure exam integrity.

Prof Magoha said the exercise will be done in 35 centres and be completed in two weeks' time to allow candidates to transit to colleges and vocational institutions.  

University Education and Research Principal Secretary Simon Nabukwesi recently indicated that the KCSE candidates will start joining universities as early as June, this year. 

Mr Nabukwesi said entry into vocational institutions will begin in September.

"The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) will start placing the candidates in the institutions immediately the KCSE results are released. There will be no waste of time. Candidates will be picked to join universities in early June,” said Mr Nabukwesi when he inspected exam distribution in Nakuru.

According to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), 831,015 candidates registered for the 2021 KCSE examination in 10,413 centres.

During the administration of the written examination, cases of exam malpractices were reported in several parts of the country.

However, the CS maintained that no exam papers leaked and that there were only attempts to aid cheating, where some examination officials took photos of question papers after collecting them from the containers.

Further, Prof Magoha dispelled fear among secondary school principals over an alleged plot by KNEC officials to ‘boost’ candidates’ grades after marking. [Jacinta Mutura]

The CS had revealed that some officials working with some principals to provide students' data to enable them ‘improve’ grades.