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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Knec plans changes to enhance exam integrity

Education

By Lewis Nyaundi | Oct 05, 2024

**Shimo la Tewa candidates being frisked before the start of the 2021 KCSE exams** **at the school in Mombasa County on March 14, 2022.** [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Security overhaul is set for this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams with supervisors and invigilators now required to rotate between schools.

The examination set to begin three weeks from now, will also see the introduction of personalised question papers with names and index details of the student printed on them.

The new measures introduced by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) will also include strict phone bans, conflict of interest checks, and increased examination collection centres.

KNEC chief executive David Njengere all exam officials will be required to surrender their mobile phones at the beginning of each examination session.

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“These phones will be kept in lockable desks, under the vigilance of a security officer and the key will be kept by the centre supervisor,” he said.

Previously, centre managers were allowed to remain with their phones while supervisors and invigilators were banned from using phones during examinations.

Invigilators and supervisors will also be required to declare any form of conflict of interest to the schools they will be deployed.
Teachers Service Commission(TSC) director of staffing, on behalf of the chief executive, said teachers contracted as invigilators and supervisors, will not be deployed to examination centres where they have a conflict of interest.

This could mean the invigilators and supervisors will not be deployed to schools they currently serve or have served in the past, or where their spouses or close relatives are employed.

“They will be required to declare any affiliations they may have with the examination centres where they will be posted,” Lentoijoni said.

Education Cabinet Secretary, Julius Ogamba supported the enhanced measures saying they will ensure the quality of academic certificates.

KCSE will begin on October 22 and will take exactly one month ending on November 22.

KPSEA will be administered between October 28 and November 1. A total of 1,303,913 candidates will take the assessment in 35,573 centres. On the other hand, 965501 candidates will take this year’s KCSE exam in 10,755 exam centres.