KNEC rules out exam delay as teachers resume duty

The KNEC boss said exams were holistic and not testing the final weeks of the final term. Photo/ FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 3 – The Kenya National Examinations Council CEO Joseph Kivilu has ruled out a re-adjustment of the national exam timetable as demanded by teachers who resume work on Monday following a five-week-long strike.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) called for the postponement of the national exams so their members can properly prepare candidates in public schools who’ve been out of class since the beginning of September.

“And Kivilu if you are patriotic and you want to be respected, re-adjust the examination timetable so that we can effectively conclude the instructional period that is required to prepare our candidates very well,” KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion urged on Saturday when suspending the stike for 90 days.

But Kivilu said it was hypocritical for the public school teachers to make such a demand of the Council as it was, “their fault,” that their students were unprepared.

He therefore advised the teachers to, “hunker down and re-double their efforts,” to ensure the candidates are ready for the exams.

He said those sitting for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations still had a month to recover the time lost before taking the exams on November 10 to 13.

As for the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination candidates, Kivilu said the train had already left the station as they began sitting for their French and German orals and music practicals on September 28.

Their exams however start in earnest on October 12 when they begin sitting for their theory papers.

He however sought to assure public school candidates who’ve lost out on account of their teachers downing their tools that the exams were created to be holistic, encompassing what they’d learnt over the years and not just focused on their last few weeks of their final years.

The Kenya National Association of Parents had, during the public school teachers strike, called for the postponement of the national exams and the closure of private schools in unison with public schools so as not to afford the one an advantage over the other.

READ: Parents’ lobby wants national exams put off

About The Author

OLIVE BURROWS

With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.

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