Cabinet Secretary for Education Fred Matiangi has reiterated that the ministry will not change the national examination timetable even if the date for the repeat presidential election slated for October 17th is altered.
Speaking to the press after a closed-door consultative meeting with the education sector stakeholders, Matiangi exuded confidence that they have made elaborate plans to ensure that candidates sit for their exams in a conducive environment. “We were having our routine preparation meetings. Today we were meeting with the entirety of the sector including the unions. We will conduct the exams as outlined in the timetable shared by Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC),” he stated.
Asked whether the political uncertainty currently being experienced in the country might affect the examination, he committed that the ministry has made elaborate plans in case of any eventuality. “We are proactive, we have to always plan with a measure of consciousness of the environment in which we are working in. Should the election date change, we have made plans to conduct our examinations,” he added.
According to the KNEC calendar, Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) is scheduled to begin on October 30, 2017, ending on November 3, 2017, while the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) is scheduled to run from November 6 – 30, 2017. “We are ready to conduct the exams. We are better prepared this year than last year,” Matiangi emphasized.
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The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) secretary general and nominated legislator Wilson Sossion also affirmed that the union is in agreement that the dates should not be altered in any way. “The examinations are very important to our children who are not preparing to vote but to sit for examinations. The dates as set out and outlined should not be altered for whatsoever reason,” he affirmed.
Sossion who was invited by Matiangi to speak to the media also cautioned against the politicization of education. “For any nation, children come first,” he said adding that “examinations and school programs should not be politicized.”
The meeting was attended by key education sector leaders including KNEC Chairman George Magoha, Principal Secretary of Education (PS), Dr. Belio Kipsang among others. The unions that also attended the meeting included Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), KNUT, Kenya secondary school heads associations (KSSHA), and Kenya Primary School Heads Associations (KPSHA) and the education sector agencies.
This article was written by Dannish Odongo and first published on Capital News.
