Govt dismisses leakage reports as KCSE exams kick off countrywide

The Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination 2020 on Friday officially kicked off countrywide with the government dismissing any reports of leakage.

Julius Ouma Jwan, Principal Secretary in the State Department for Early Learning and Basic Education, spoke in Kibra while supervising the commencements of the distribution of KCSE papers.

Mr. Ouma dismissed the leakage reports carried by a local daily urging the country to disregard them and trust that the integrity of the exam is intact.

“For the next 4 weeks, we’re going to run the exams effectively the way we did with KCPE. I know there’s something on the headline of the papers today which we’ll be addressing later, ignore that. There is no exam that leaked. We want to assure the country that the exam’s integrity remains as it has always been,” he said.

He also implored teachers to voluntarily accept the COVID-19 vaccine jab since they will be interacting with many people over the course of the exam period.

The Early Learning and Basic Education PS further stated that marking of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams has since kicked off.

Basic Education Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Mumina Bonaya supervised the opening of the KCSE exam container at the Isiolo sub-county headquarters where she called upon center managers to ensure credibility of the process and ensure that health protocols are observed.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) CEO Nancy Macharia supervised the opening of the container in Mvita at the offices of the Mombasa County Commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo.

Ms. Macharia said 227,000 teachers will oversee the exam process throughout the country, urging them to exercise integrity.

She further stated that the government has on its radar 20 schools that have continuously been involved in exam irregularities, adding that at least two police officers will be dispatched to each center.

Over 750,000 candidates – 9,156 of them from Mombasa County alone – are set to sit the KCSE exams, with Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha also assuring that security is well in place.

CS Magoha supervised the examination distribution exercise and kick-off in Kisii County.

Kenya National Examination Council Chairman John Onsari also sought to assure candidates that there have been no leakages of the KCSE exam.

Onsari spoke in Nyeri town where he oversaw the distribution of exam materials, further stating that the integrity of the just-concluded KCPE exams was also not compromised.

Nyeri County Commissioner Lyford Kibaara said two girls will sit for their papers in hospitals after giving birth.

Nyeri County has a total of 18,532 candidates distributed across 246 centers; 9,202 of the candidates are male while 9,330 are female.