It is a good thing that the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination results have been released early, three weeks after the tests ended. They used to be released after Christmas, giving students very little time to prepare for their transition to secondary school.
The collaboration between the Education, Interior and ICT ministries in delivering the million-candidate KCPE examination should be commended. It was a fine example of government ministries working together to ensure that the examinations’ quality and integrity were an improvement on all past exams.
The government gave the Kenya National Examinations Council Sh100 million to acquire marking machines that greatly hastened the process.
This year, Knec contracted 20,000 teachers to mark the answer sheets of 1,003,556 candidates across 28,566 centres.
Efficiency and ending exam cheating are very good things. The KCPE Class of 2017 should have a great future in a Kenya that strives to improve systems and processes and the integrity of academic rites of passage.
“In any case, it’s the cowardice of people like you who give dictators the chance to install themselves!” — Iranian-born French graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi was born on November 22, 1969.
