The government has announced plans to deploy air support to ferry examination materials in areas that may be affected by the anticipated El Nino rains.
Speaking during a meeting with education field officers from coast region at Shimo la Tewa High School in Mombasa, Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said that the ministry is working with other government agencies in mapping out areas that may be impacted by floods.
Kipsang said they are mobilizing helicopters from the police wing, military, forestry service, and KWS, to support delivery of the national exams.
“We are preparing for exams at a time when we are expecting the El-nino rains to come. We will map out regions that will be cut by flooding and put in place plans to ensure exams and invigilators get to exam centers on time,” said PS Kipsang.
He added, “Together we are working to mobilize all the equipment that is there across government including our helicopters both in police, military, forestry service, and in KWS, all of them we shall mobilize to support our children during examinations.”
The PS assured students in insecurity-prone areas such as Lamu County that the government had put in place plans to ensure their safety during the examination period.
“We have gotten that assurance from our colleagues in the security sector,” he said.
Some 1.4 million children are set to sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations, and another 1.2 million will sit for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) as around 900,000 children sit for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.
The PS also said that the education ministry had put measures to ensure examiners, invigilators, markers and security personnel among other individuals involved in the administration of national examinations receive their pay on time to avoid any issues.
He called for collaborative efforts to ensure that they deliver a credible examination.
“Let us endeavor to end this trust deficit during national examinations. We need to get back the trust we had in the teaching profession”
“Why don’t we see mock exams leaking yet we are the ones who set, administer and mark them? We can also do it with the national exams,” Kipsang said.
The PS further cautioned schools against having extra-curricular activities in the third term to allow for candidates to prepare well for examinations.
“Tupunguze hii mambo ya external activities in third term so that we give our students especially candidates more time to prepare,” he said.
He also raised alarm with the insurgence of school fires and protests warning that pupils found culpable will be treated as criminals.
Haniel Mengistu
