• The mapping will be led by regional commissioners with support from county commissioners and their deputies
• About 3.5 million children are set to sit for their national examinations this year
The government has announced plans to deploy air support to areas that will be mapped out to be affected by the coming El Nino rains during the national examinations in November.
Image: ONYANGO OCHIENG
The government has announced plans to deploy air support to areas that will be mapped out to be affected by the coming El Nino rains during the national examinations in November.
Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang on Tuesday said they are working with other government officials, including regional and county commissioners, to map out areas that might be affected by the rains.
“Together, we are working to mobilise all the equipment, including our helicopters in police, military, forestry service and in KWS,” he said.
"All of them will be mobilised to support our children during examinations."
He was speaking during a meeting with education field officers from the Coast region at Shimo la Tewa High School in Mombasa.
About 3.5 million children are set to sit for their national examinations this year.
Some 1.4 million children are set to sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination, and another 1.2 million will sit for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA).
Another around 900,000 children will sit the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
"We are preparing for exams at a time when we are expecting the El Nino rains to come," Kipsang said.
"We will map out regions that will be cut by flooding and put in place plans to ensure exams and invigilators get to exam centres on time."
The mapping, he said, will be led by regional commissioners with support from county commissioners and their deputies as part of the national government administrative structure.
He reiterated the government’s commitment and readiness to administer the examinations, assuring children that the government had put in place measures to ensure their examinations would not be disrupted by the rains.
“We have looked at conditions and it is more than 90 per cent predicted that there will be El Nino rains and science does not lie,” he said.
"So we wouldn’t want to wish away what is about to happen. And it will be totally unfair if that was to happen, yet we have been advised it is going to be a challenge."
The PS assured students in insecurity-prone areas like Lamu county that the government had put in place plans to ensure their security during the examination period.
“We have gotten that assurance from our colleagues in the security sector,” he said.
The PS said that the education ministry has put measures to ensure examiners, invigilators, markers and security personnel among other individuals involved in the administration of national examinations receive their pay on time to avoid any issues.
He called for collaborative efforts to ensure that they deliver a credible examination.
Kipsang said the issue of trust deficit during the administration of exams needs to be dealt with.
"Why don't we see mock exams leaking, yet we are the ones who set, administer and mark them? We can also do it with the national exams," he said.
The PS cautioned schools against having extra-curricular activities in the third term to allow for candidates to prepare well for examinations.
He asked teachers not to send students, especially candidates, home for school fees in the third term in order to minimise exposing them to incidents like accidents that might affect them as they prepare for exams.
Kipsang also raised alarm about the rise in school fires and protests, warning that pupils found culpable will be treated as criminals.
He asked principals to strengthen the guiding and counselling department, adding that the ministry is also working on the same.
"We need to tell our children that if they indulge in criminal activities, they will be treated as criminals. Make them aware that there are consequences for what they do," he said.
"This will get into their records and might become a challenge for them to get a certificate of good conduct from the police when they apply."
The meeting was attended by all six county commissioners and their deputies, led by Coast regional commissioner, members of the region and county security teams and a team from the Education ministry and Teacher Service Commission.
Others present were officials from the Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association (Kepsha) and Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha).