Over 200, 000 teachers to officiate national exams

By Peter Ochieng

Over 200, 000 teachers will officiate the upcoming three tie national examinations.

The tests are Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) for grade six, Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) for standard eight, and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) for form four.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia said 223,223 teachers will serve as supervisors and invigilators during the exams, starting October.

Additionally, Macharia said TSC has dispatched 71, 760 center managers who will be responsible for collecting the twice-daily exams papers.

“The center managers will participate in subcounty briefing meetings, which are set to be conducted nationwide by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) during the first week of October 2023,” said the TSC boss.

She added that no center manager will be deployed where he/she was assigned last year.

"No supervisor or invigilator is retained in the center they served during last year’s national examinations to ensure annual rotation of staff."

“I wish to commit that the TSC and all its staff and teachers will give the upcoming national examinations our full support to ensure that this is a massive success,” she added.

On Monday, Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ezekiel Machogu announced a new grading system for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).

Under the new grading system which will be implemented in the 2023 KCSE exams, students will be graded based on two mandatory subjects – Mathematics and one language (English, Kiswahili, or Kenyan Sign language.

“In addition to the two mandatory subjects, the Kenya National Examinations Council will consider any other five best,” said the CS.

Under the previous system, English, Kiswahili, Maths, two science subjects and two humanity subjects were considered mandatory.