The Kenya National Examinations Council, KNEC, has introduced new guidelines and features that will take effect in the coming national examinations, scheduled to start in October 2024. The changes come barely a month before KCSE exams that take place between October 22 and November 22, 2024.
According to KNEC, personal question papers are among innovations that would be put into place. This innovation has been done with a view to enhancing the integrity and security of the examination process. Candidates shall be supplied with pre-printed question papers bearing their specific details to ensure that the papers are unique to each student.
Innovations and Guidelines for KCSE
Personalized Question Papers: This year's KCSE will be introducing customized question papers with the student's name pre-printed on the examination paper, hence making tracking and management of papers easier, thereby reducing exposure to the possibilities of examination malpractices. Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said, "We have implemented several innovations this year, including customized question papers for the KCSE examinations where the candidates' names will be pre-printed."
- Anonymized Answer Scripts: To enhance equality in marking, candidate's answer scripts shall be anonymized before marking. The script will show just a signature whereby no examiner can tell who the owner of the script is; this enhances fairness in grading.
- Mobile Phone Ban: Severe measures are in place concerning the use of mobile phones during the period of an exam. Centre managers and invigilators, along with candidates, shall also not use mobile phones to avoid any instance of cheating or any malpractices concerning an examination.
- Rotation of Supervisors and Conflict of Interest: Each supervisor will work in only one centre per week, with rotation done on a weekly basis. This could be to control the development of too much familiarity or conflicts of interest that can lead to bias. Supervisors and invigilators are also to declare affiliations with the examination centres they have been assigned to.
- Improved Security of Exams: The security personnel will ensure that the distribution and collection of the examination materials are done safely, especially for the forth-coming KPSEA that is scheduled to take place from 28th to 1st November 2024.
Candidate Numbers for KPSEA and KCSE
A total of 965,501 candidates will sit for this year's KCSE exams in 10,755 examination centres, while 1,313,913 will sit for the KPSEA exams in 32,573 centres. These tests fall under the category of very key tests in determining which students are ready to proceed into the next level of their schooling.