Nyeri: This year, Nyeri County has registered more female students than male students for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations (KCSE), with 10,317 girls and 10,115 boys set to take part. In addition to the school candidates, 617 individuals have enrolled as private adult candidates. The exams, which began earlier this week, started with elective subjects and will continue with theory papers from November 4 to November 22.
According to Kenya News Agency, last year’s candidate count from Nyeri stood at 19,856. Nationally, the number of KCSE candidates has increased to 965,501 across 10,750 centers, compared to 903,260 last year. Additionally, 1,313,913 Grade Six students will undertake their Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KEPSEA) starting October 28.
Central Region Director of Education Sabina Aroni assured that preparations are in place for a smooth exam administration. She mentioned that briefings have been conducted for all supervisors and invigilators, although there were initial ch
allenges in acquiring complete candidate data from Kiambu County.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has introduced new measures to prevent exam malpractices, including personalized examination papers for each candidate and restrictions on mobile phone use during exams. KNEC CEO David Njengere emphasized that these steps will secure the exams and anonymize answer scripts during marking, promoting fairness in grading.
KNEC will also administer the KPSEA to over 1.3 million candidates in 32,573 centers, bringing the total number of national exam candidates to over 2.27 million. Enhancements include the deployment of security personnel solely for distributing and collecting exam materials for KPSEA, while maintaining the standard security protocol for KCSE.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba announced the expansion of distribution centers for KCSE materials with 41 new additions, totaling 617 centers, to improve efficiency. He reiterated the government’s zero-tolerance policy on exam malpra
ctice, warning that any violations will face strict penalties.