The government has officially confirmed that candidates will sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations in March and April 2022.
Education Cabinet Secretary, George Magoha confirmed the dates while accompanying his Interior counterpart, Fred Matiang’i, in a tour of South Mugirango, Kisii County on Monday, December 6.
Magoha also allayed fears by KCPE and KCSE candidates who had expressed concerns that the exams will cover the whole syllabus yet they spent most of the school calendar at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Education CS assured candidates that the government will consider such factors while working closely with the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) and other stakeholders while setting the exams.
He further maintained that the KCPE and KCSE exams will be tailor made to factor in the challenges the candidates have faced due to the pandemic.
Magoha stated that the examinations will have a human face, meaning KNEC will not include topics candidates have not covered by the time they sit for their finals.
He, therefore, asked candidates to be calm as he reassured them that the government understands how the school year was disrupted.
“Let our learners maintain calm and be ready to sit the examinations. We are going to ensure we have a human face in the coming examinations. Candidates should not fear,” Magoha stated.
After the 2020 KCPE exams, primary schools performed better than the previous year and reports emerged that the results were standardised to favour learners in public schools.
But the government refuted the claims and explained that the results witnessed were the profits of the free primary education programme and the supply of textbooks to all learners.
This improvement in final exams was also witnessed in the KCSE examinations, where more candidates qualified for university admission than in the previous year, despite having been out of school for seven months due to the pandemic.
