The Kenya National Examination Council had earlier given a directive for schools with fewer than 40 registered candidates to be scrapped off the list of examination centers.
This comes as a surprise to many since KNEC has recently announced a significant increase in the number of registered KCPE and KCSE students expected to sit the examinations this year. The council has recorded an increase of 112,000 more candidates from last year’s population.
KCPE examination centers have decreased from 28,467 last year to 28,329 this year, while the number of KCSE centers have decreased from 10,437 to 10,413 this year.
Earlier in May, KNEC had issued a circular, directing all schools with less than 40 candidates to merge with neighboring schools and register as one examination center.
Private schools take a tough blow on this one as they are usually with very little student population. The old tradition of having a minimum of 15 candidates had favored most private schools and they have therefore been pushing for the number of candidates to be reduced to the original number.
Compared to last year, 78,424 more students are expected to sit the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination this year. For the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), 34,085 more students are registered for the examinations this year.
Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) CEO David Njeng’ere said yesterday that the increase in KCSE candidates shows that more students are completing secondary education.
“Sure, it will cost more to administer the exams. Clearly, the 100% transition policy is bearing fruit, so we can’t complain but celebrate that more children are able to complete secondary education,” said Dr Njeng’ere.
The increased number of candidates is expected to raise the cost of administering examinations. KNEC has therefore hired 4,200 more examiners in preparation for the national examinations this year. 700 more Composition and Insha examiners were hired for KCPE while 3,500 more examiners were hired for English, Kiswahili, Biology, Chemistry, History and Government, Christian Religious Education and Agriculture.
Candidates are expected to sit their KCPE examinations as from March 7th 2022 to March 9th 2022, while the KCSE exams will be written as from February 28th 2022 to April 1st 2022.