NAIROBI, Kenya, October 19 – Rehearsals for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) got underway Monday morning as candidates and parents urged the government to ensure the examination went on smoothly.
Most candidates said that their main worry was whether the examination papers would be availed on time amid ongoing heavy rains in most parts of the country.
“I don’t know if this is El-Nino or they are just the normal rains but we are worried because last time it rained, examination papers to schools in this area were late,” a parent in Nyahururu said.
Roads in most parts of the country have been rendered impassable due to the heavy rains but the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has said it was well prepared for any eventuality.
“We just hope everything will be okay, we are well prepared for the examinations and just hope it will not be disrupted by the heavy rains,” James Opiyo, a candidate in one of the schools in Bondo said.
An official at the KNEC headquarters told Capital News all necessary measures have been put in place to ensure the heavy rains do not affect the national examinations.
Cheating
This year’s examinations come with several changes aimed at curbing cheating.
Candidates will not be allowed to sit any tests in the afternoon and no paper would be given to anyone who is more than half an hour late according to the new regulations issued by KNEC.
The new rules are intended to curb cheating most of which the exams body argues, takes place between 2pm and 5pm.
The changes will affect the more than a million candidates sitting both the secondary and primary examinations this year.
Results of 1,419 candidates in last year’s Form Four examinations were cancelled due to cases of cheating.
The number was, however, a significant drop from the 1,875 candidates whose results were cancelled in 2007.
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